Outsourcing Corruption: The Role of Fate Beliefs and Motivated Fate Attributions in Delegating Decisions About Corrupt Behaviour

Abstract

Corruption often involves collective actions rather than clandestine individual efforts. It is also socially facilitated via tacit complicity influenced by norms and beliefs. Five studies examine the delegation of decisions about corrupt behaviour as a social form of corruption and the role of attributing outcomes of delegated corrupt decisions to fate. In three correlational studies, belief in fate (i.e., perceiving events as ‘meant to be’ and predetermined) were positively associated with the delegation of decisions between non-corrupt, ethical and corrupt, self-serving behaviours to equally interested others in workplace scenarios. This effect was distinct from religious belief. In two experimental studies, participants attributed others’ corrupt decisions to fate more strongly when they served (vs. harmed) their self-interest. Fate beliefs were positively associated with fate attributions. Collectively, these studies illuminate interindividual differences associated with delegating decisions and how beliefs may be strategically used to justify corrupt outcomes, emphasising the social aspects of corruption.