Bribing and Social Desirability in Peru: A Mixed Methods Approach

Objective/Context: What could lead some individuals to be more prone lie about engaging in corruption? We contend that a psychological approach the study of corruption can employed understand who lies corrupt behavior and why. Since social desirability bias (SDB) is related appropriateness behavior, conflicting norms context where widespread— like several Latin American countries—can result SDB surveys directly ask for past behavior. Moreover, due norms, subgroups population might particularly affected by SDB. Methodology: Together, focus groups, list experiments, survey data provide evidence supports our approach. Conclusion: Overall, we confirm at work even which widespread Peru. Statistically speaking, only find support existence gender socialization as an important source when reporting bribing However, other substantive—not statistically significant—differences age merit further discussion research. Originality: This has two main contributions; first, it highlights importance designing unobtrusive measures studying prevalence practices America; second, shows policy interventions fight may not equally effective across different groups population.