Instrumental Approach to Institutional Corruption: Explaining Performance-Conditional Acceptance of Corruption Among Citizens in European Countries

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Mizrahi, Shlomo; Bar, Shani
• 署名单位: University of Haifa
• 刊物名称: REGULATION & GOVERNANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1748-5983; 1748-5991
• DOI: 10.1111/rego.70175
• 发表日期: 2026-06-11
• 关键词: EUROPE; institutional corruption; Institutional trust; instrumental view of corruption; normalization of corruption; trust

摘要

This article explores the mechanisms through which institutional corruption and engagement in corruption at the societal level may be normalized to the extent that citizens adopt an instrumental approach to corruption. Such an approach means that the public accepts corrupt practices and sees them as reasonable, as long as they achieve results that they see as beneficial. We develop a theoretical framework that includes institutional and behavioral independent variables. We then test our research model using survey data collected from citizens of 27 European countries from Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer. The findings indicate that the mechanism through which citizens form their perceptions of institutional corruption as instrumental is complex. The normalization of corruption in society does not lead people to rule out process considerations, but it does weaken them among certain segments of the population. Thus, considerations about the outcomes of corrupt activities and the fairness of processes coexist.