Corrupt third parties undermine trust and prosocial behaviour between people

Giuliana Spadaro; Catherine Molho; Jan Willem Van Prooijen; Angelo Romano; Cristina O. Mosso; Paul A.M. Van Lange

doi:10.1038/s41562-022-01457-w

Corrupt third parties undermine trust and prosocial behaviour between people

Giuliana Spadaro^*
, Catherine Molho
, Jan Willem Van Prooijen
, Angelo Romano
, Cristina O. Mosso
, Paul A.M. Van Lange

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

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Abstract

Corruption is a pervasive phenomenon that affects the quality of institutions, undermines economic growth and exacerbates inequalities around the globe. Here we tested whether perceiving representatives of institutions as corrupt undermines trust and subsequent prosocial behaviour among strangers. We developed an experimental game paradigm modelling representatives as third-party punishers to manipulate or assess corruption and examine its relationship with trust and prosociality (trust behaviour, cooperation and generosity). In a sequential dyadic die-rolling task, the participants observed the dishonest behaviour of a target who would subsequently serve as a third-party punisher in a trust game (Study 1a, N = 540), in a prisoner’s dilemma (Study 1b, N = 503) and in dictator games (Studies 2–4, N = 765, pre-registered). Across these five studies, perceiving a third party as corrupt undermined interpersonal trust and, in turn, prosocial behaviour. These findings contribute to our understanding of the critical role that representatives of institutions play in shaping cooperative relationships in modern societies.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	46-54
Number of pages	9
Journal	Nature Human Behaviour
Volume	7
Issue number	1
Early online date	27 Oct 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01457-w
Publication status	Published - Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank D. Balliet, L. Hoeft and the members of the Amsterdam Cooperation Lab for helpful comments on the manuscript. G.S. acknowledges funding from the ERC Starting Grant (no. 635356) awarded to D. Balliet. C.M. acknowledges IAST funding from the French National Research Agency under grant no. ANR-17-EURE-0010 (Investissements d’Avenir programme). A.R. acknowledges funding from the ERC Advanced Grant (no. 785635) awarded to C. K. W. De Dreu. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Funding

We thank D. Balliet, L. Hoeft and the members of the Amsterdam Cooperation Lab for helpful comments on the manuscript. G.S. acknowledges funding from the ERC Starting Grant (no. 635356) awarded to D. Balliet. C.M. acknowledges IAST funding from the French National Research Agency under grant no. ANR-17-EURE-0010 (Investissements d’Avenir programme). A.R. acknowledges funding from the ERC Advanced Grant (no. 785635) awarded to C. K. W. De Dreu. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

Funders	Funder number
French National Research Agency	ANR-17-EURE-0010
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	785635
European Research Council	635356

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

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Corrupt third parties undermine trust and prosocial behaviour between peopleFinal published version, 1.84 MBLicence: Article 25fa Dutch Copyright Act

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Cite this

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abstract = "Corruption is a pervasive phenomenon that affects the quality of institutions, undermines economic growth and exacerbates inequalities around the globe. Here we tested whether perceiving representatives of institutions as corrupt undermines trust and subsequent prosocial behaviour among strangers. We developed an experimental game paradigm modelling representatives as third-party punishers to manipulate or assess corruption and examine its relationship with trust and prosociality (trust behaviour, cooperation and generosity). In a sequential dyadic die-rolling task, the participants observed the dishonest behaviour of a target who would subsequently serve as a third-party punisher in a trust game (Study 1a, N = 540), in a prisoner{\textquoteright}s dilemma (Study 1b, N = 503) and in dictator games (Studies 2–4, N = 765, pre-registered). Across these five studies, perceiving a third party as corrupt undermined interpersonal trust and, in turn, prosocial behaviour. These findings contribute to our understanding of the critical role that representatives of institutions play in shaping cooperative relationships in modern societies.",

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Corrupt third parties undermine trust and prosocial behaviour between people

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

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