Gender differences in beliefs and actions in a framed corruption experiment

Author(s)
Milos Fisar, Matus Kubak, Jiri Spalek, James Tremewan
Abstract

We elicit actions and beliefs in a framed corruption experiment enabling us to investigate how gender differences in corrupt behaviour relate to gender differences in both beliefs about the behaviour of others and the relationship between those beliefs and actions. We find that women are less likely to engage in costly punishment of corruption, and believe corruption to be more prevalent than men. Differences between the genders in the relationship between beliefs and actions provides evidence that men experience a greater psychological cost as a result of social sanctions. Controlling for beliefs and gender differences in sensitivity to beliefs we find that males are, in many instances, more likely to offer bribes, while females are less likely to conform to a norm of bribe-giving. This result was not apparent in the raw data, and highlights the importance of considering beliefs in corruption experiments.

Organisation(s)
Department of Economics
External organisation(s)
Technical University of Košice, Masaryk University
Journal
Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
Volume
63
Pages
69-82
No. of pages
14
ISSN
2214-8043
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2016.05.004
Publication date
08-2016
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
502021 Microeconomics
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Social Sciences(all), Economics and Econometrics, Applied Psychology
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/gender-differences-in-beliefs-and-actions-in-a-framed-corruption-experiment(49691f6f-86b7-40af-b70a-9203a46a106a).html