Household services, social norms and bribe involvements? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Purpose: Understanding the drivers of corruption involvement is critical for the design of interventions aimed at reducing the incidence of corruption and easing the process of obtaining services. In many developing countries particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, traditional cultures dictate that women are responsible for performing physically demanding household chores such as fetching water, collecting and carrying firewood over long distances. This paper aims to examine the implications of these social norms on bribe involvements in sub-Saharan Africa. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses micro-level data on bribe involvement across 20 sub-Saharan African countries. It also applies multiple estimation approaches to correct for differences in exposure to government officials, which then allows for estimating the gender differences in bribe involvement. Probit, Heckman selectivity and Lee bound estimation approaches are adopted for the purpose. Findings: The author find that social norms impact bribe involvement of men and women in sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, the author find lower involvement of men in bribery in sub-Saharan when household services, are at stake compared to other services. In effect the gender differences in bribe involvement, even though robust for other services that are not household related, disappears when household services are at stake. The author shed light on how social and cultural norms could impact bribery outcomes. Originality/value: Findings from this study shows that inefficiencies in public utility delivery in sub-Sahran Africa can create antisocial behavior and that interventions geared toward improvement access to utility can reduced inequality in access to services.