Gender Bias in Bribe Solicitation: Evidence From Firm–State Interactions

Abstract

Previous research has shown that women-led businesses are less likely to bribe officials to bypass administrative burdens, assuming that this is because women are less susceptible to corruption. We uncover an additional mechanism that focuses on the beliefs and practices of corrupt officials: bureaucrats underestimate women as entrepreneurs and hence reduce their demand for bribes from women-led enterprises. We confirm these expectations using the World Bank Enterprise Survey on a sample of 109,929 firms in 149 countries from 2006 to 2022. Split-sample analyses focusing on gender-unequal societies further support our hypothesized mechanism and suggest tentatively that sexual corruption may substitute for bribery as female-led businesses interact with public sector officials. The results have important implications for understanding the drivers of corruption, notably its gendered dimension and the role of women’s leadership as an engine for integrity, though for perhaps unexpected reasons.