Bribery and the Role and Social Value Orientation: A Multi-Site Experimental Study in Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands

Lode De Waele; Kristina S Weißmüller; Arjen van Witteloostuijn

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.655964

Bribery and the Role and Social Value Orientation: A Multi-Site Experimental Study in Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands

Front Psychol. 2021 Jun 7:12:655964. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.655964. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Lode De Waele^{1

2}, Kristina S Weißmüller^{3

4}, Arjen van Witteloostuijn^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Erasmus Hogeschool Brussel, Brussel, Belgium.
² Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
³ KPM Center for Public Management, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁴ Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
⁵ School of Business and Economics, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
⁶ Faculty of Business and Economics, Antwerp University, Antwerp Management School, Antwerp, Belgium.

Abstract

Bribery is a complex phenomenon rooted in both individual motives and the greater institutional context. Experimental research into causal mechanisms that drive bribing behavior is still scarce. To date, there is no empirical evidence on how the society-regarding motivational survey measure of Public Service Motivation (PSM) and the other-oriented motivational measure of Social Value Orientation (SVO) can help explain why some people are more susceptible to engage in the act of bribing than others. Based on a multi-site triple-replication, and a vignette-based research design, quasi-experimental evidence from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands shows that both measures interact and that-paradoxically-people with higher SVO are more likely to be willing to engage in bribery.

Keywords: bribery; corruption; multi-site design; public service motivation (PSM); social value orientation (SVO).