Why Does Tribalism Cause Corruption in Some Countries?

Abstract

This research paper explores the relationship between tribal factors of gender inequality, ethnic fractionalization, indigenous population, group grievance, and the country’s level of corruption and explains why tribalism causes corruption in 132 countries worldwide. I used the least-squares multiple regression analysis and secondary data from the Corruption Perception Index, the Global Economy, the Human Resource Development, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the World Bank Group, the Historical Index of Ethnic Fractionalization Dataset, and the Economist Study as evidence of corruption, group grievance, gender inequality, indigenous population, ethnic fractionalization, and political instability to test the four hypotheses. The results suggest that Group grievance, gender inequality, and ethnic fractionalization have a strong and significant relationship with the country’s level of corruption. However, the indigenous population appears to have no significant relationship with the country’s level of corruption. The research theoretical and practical implications and future research have also been discussed.