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Belief in a just world lowers bribery intention
Author(s) -
Bai Baoyu,
Liu Xiaoxiao,
Kou Yu
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
asian journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.5
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-839X
pISSN - 1367-2223
DOI - 10.1111/ajsp.12108
Subject(s) - just world hypothesis , punishment (psychology) , language change , psychology , social psychology , economic justice , economics , microeconomics , art , literature
Corruption is rampant around the world and can be detrimental to social justice. We aim to understand whether and how belief in a just world to self ( BJW ‐self) influences individuals' intentions to become involved in bribery. We measured bribery intention using hypothetical scenarios. In Study 1 and Study 2, we consistently found that BJW ‐self negatively predicted bribery intention, and this pattern was mediated by perceived punishment of getting involved in bribery. We further demonstrated the causal effect of BJW ‐self on bribery intention in an experiment (Study 3). These results indicate that BJW as one lay belief can be important in suppressing people's bribery intention, and perceived punishment mediates the effect of BJW on rule‐breaking behaviours. Implications for anti‐corruption policies and future research are also discussed.