Assessing Individuals’ Perceptions of the Impact of Corruption on the Domains of Sustainable Development: A Cross-sectional Study in Palestine

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to assess the impact of corruption on the social, economic, environmental and political domains of sustainable development from individuals’ perspective. The study also attempts to relate individuals’ perceptions to their socioeconomic characteristics. The study uses the convenience sampling approach, where 521 responses are collected through an online-administered questionnaire. Each domain of sustainable development is defined by a set of items measured on a five-point Likert scale. Individuals’ perceptions of the impact of corruption on sustainable development domains are assessed by measuring the mean score value of each item. The association between individuals’ perceptions and their socioeconomic characteristics is evaluated using the independent-samples t-test. The study finds that the impact of corruption on the four domains of sustainable development as perceived by individuals is within the high level. Results also show a statistically significant difference between individuals from different socioeconomic groups in their perceptions of the impact of corruption on sustainable development. Results revealed that a high level of corruption would hinder the progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at all levels. Therefore, improving the quality of governance in public institutions and controlling corruption is crucial to attaining economic and sustainable development.