Corruption and cheating: Evidence from rural Thailand

Olaf Hübler, Melanie Koch, Lukas Menkhoff and Ulrich Schmidt

World Development, 2021, vol. 145, issue C

Abstract: This study tests the prediction that perceived corruption reduces ethical behavior. Integrating a standard “cheating” experiment into a broad household survey in rural Thailand, we find tentative support for this prediction: respondents who perceive corruption in state affairs are more likely to cheat and, thus, to fortify the negative consequences of corruption. Interestingly, there is a small group of non-conformers. The main relation is robust to consideration of socio-demographic, attitudinal, and situational control variables. Attendance of others at the cheating experiment, stimulating the reputational concern to be seen as honest, reduces cheating, thus indicating transparency as a remedy.

Keywords: Corruption; Cheating; Individual characteristics; Lab-in-the-field experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D73 D91 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Corruption and cheating: Evidence from rural Thailand (2021)
Working Paper: Corruption and Cheating: Evidence from Rural Thailand (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:145:y:2021:i:c:s0305750x21001388

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105526

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