The experience and perception of corruption: A comparative study in 34 societies

Abstract

In this article we show that perceptions of corruption and the experience of bribery are related theoretically and empirically at the individual level, although the magnitude of this association relies on two context variables, country-level corruption and press freedom. For that purpose, we propose a sociological approach to understand how people form “mental images” of corruption beyond (as well as based on) their personal experience of bribery. We test its main implications using a cross-national approach based on ISSP's 2016 Role of Government module and the national-level predictors suggested by our theoretical framework and the specialized literature. Using multilevel models, we find that the generalized perception of corruption is associated with the personal experience of bribery and that this association is stronger in countries where corruption is relatively absent and press freedom is high, i.e., developed countries, and is weaker otherwise, i.e., developing countries.

Keywords:

• Cross-national
• perceptions of corruption
• bribery
• press freedom
• public opinion

Acknowledgments

We thank the editor, an anonymous referee, and participants in the VIII WAPOR Latin America meeting for helpful comments. We also thank Isabel Aninat Sahli for her valuable help in editing the draft of this article. Any remaining errors are our own.

Notes

1 In this field, experiencing corruption is usually measured using how frequently respondents (or their families) are asked for a bribe in return for a public service within a given period.

2 We exclude Suriname from the sample because we could not find a reliable estimate of its Gini index.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ricardo Gonzalez

Ricardo Gonzalez is the manager of the Public Opinion Program at Centro de Estudios Públicos. He coordinates the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) in Chile.

Bernardo Mackenna

Bernardo Mackenna is a graduate student in the Sociology Department at the University of California, San Diego. He previously worked as an adjunct assistant professor at the Sociology Department at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and was an analyst and consultant of the Public Opinion Program at Centro de Estudios Públicos.

Esteban Muñoz

Esteban Muñoz is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences at Universidad Andres Bello. He also works as a research assistant of the Public Opinion Program at Centro de Estudios Públicos.