Corrupt encounters of the fairer sex: female entrepreneurs and their corruption perceptions/experience

Abstract

Adding to the research on the corruption and gender nexus, this paper contributes by several dimensions, including: (a) measurement of corruption across corruption perceptions and corruption experiences; (b) focusing on entrepreneurship level by studying whether female managers and female owners of firms perceived/experienced corruption differently; (c) using survey information at the firm level; and (d) employing a large sample of mostly developing nations covering more than 100 countries. Results show that female owners had greater corruption experience, ceteris paribus, while female managers perceived corruption to be lower. The perceptions of female managers, however, were sensitive when dimensions of gender equality were considered. With regard to firms’ characteristics, including firm’s age, size, and ownership, there was relatively greater support for these factors impacting corruption perceptions than corruption experience. All this underscores the need for effective corruption-control polices to pay attention to how corruption is measured, as well as the identity (gender) and position (owners or managers) of those underlying the relevant data.