Institutional Trust, Corruption, and Democracy

Relationships Based on People’s Perceptions Worldwide

Bibliographic Data

ID6344100
AuthorsShlomo Mizrahi (0000-0001-6531-6557, University of Haifa), Dana Natan Krup (0000-0001-6907-6327, University of Haifa)
Year2025
Publication date2025-02-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-3217 • E-ISSN: 1467-9248
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00323217251318788
OpenAlexW4408006014
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited56

This article investigates the relationships between corruption, democracy and trust in government, emphasizing the effect of societal norms that support corruption on these relationships. The empirical analysis uses data collected by the World Value Survey (Round 7) about citizens’ evaluations and perceptions about these issues. The findings show that social norms that see corruption as legitimate weaken the negative effect of actual institutional corruption on institutional trust. Furthermore, a weakening of democracy encourages institutional corruption that then reduces institutional trust. These moderating–mediating relationships also hold when including individual and country-level factors. Thus, the view that corruption is destructive to trust and to the quality of government is conditioned by people’s norms and beliefs. Our findings can help explain popular support for and the public legitimacy of politicians who engage in corrupt behavior in various countries, and more generally, the weakening of democratic systems and values all over the world

Democracy · Language change · Perception · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Corruption and Economic Development · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Law · Psychology · Public Administration · Social Capital and Networks