Abstract:

Can collectivism promote bribery? This article tries to answer the question by reviewing the related research. Bribery is an “arrangement” that involves “an exchange between two parties” which has an influence on the allocation of resources either immediately or in the future. Social scientists have paid a great attention to whether collectivism can promote bribery. The results from various perspectives of bribery and kinds of collectivism were different. There were three perspectives of bribery: perception of bribery, the attitudes towards bribery and bribery behavior (propensity). It is consistently found that collectivism facilitated bribery behavior propensity. However, mixed results were found regarding the relationships of collectivism to the perception of bribery and attitudes towards bribery. With the developing of collectivism construct, researchers also tried to figure out whether different kinds of collectivism have different relationships with bribery. Meanwhile, the underlying processes of the impact of collectivism on bribery were explored from the perspectives of moral engagement and the theory of planned behavior. To further explore the effect of collectivism on bribery, three future research directions were suggested.

Key words: collectivism, bribery, moral engagement, Theory of Planned Behavior.