The Antecedents and Effects of National Corruption: A Meta-Analysis

William Q. Judge, Old Dominion University
D. Brian McNatt, Boise State University
Weichu Xu, Old Dominion University

Abstract

A meta-analysis of 42 empirical studies was conducted to quantitatively summarize the corruption literature within a holistic theoretical framework. In general, variables within the political/legal, economics, and socio-cultural categories were equally correlated with national corruption; however, there have been twice as many studies examining the causes of corruption than those that examine the effects of corruption. Furthermore, we found that some measures of corruption are more robust than others. Finally, we identified some insights which future researchers might want to explore further. Overall, this study summarizes previous research, and serves as a guide to future research on corruption.