Religious Attitudes Toward Bribery: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The present study is part of a much larger study that examines the ethics of bribery and the ethics of tax evasion from a variety of perspectives. In this study, data were taken from the most recent World Values Survey. The main demographic variable examined was religion. Overall, nearly 70% believed that accepting a bribe could never be justified. Attitudes toward bribery were ranked on the basis of religion. The Jewish respondents were least opposed to accepting a bribe, while the Muslim respondents were most opposed. Religion was a significant demographic variable. Overall, women were slightly more opposed to accepting a bribe. Christian women were significantly more opposed to taking a bribe than were Christian men. Other male-female comparisons of mean scores by religion were not significant.