Pena-López, AtilanoSánchez Santos, José Manuel2017-11-242017-11-242014Pena López, J.A. & Sánchez Santos, J.M. J Bus Ethics (2014) 122: 697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1789-91573-0697http://hdl.handle.net/2183/19817[Abstract:] The aim of this work is to analyse the influence of sociocultural factors on corruption levels. Taking as starting point Husted (J Int Bus Studies 30:339–359, 1999) and Graeff (In: Lambsdorff J, Taube M, Schramm M (eds) The new institutional economics of corruption. Routledge, London, 2005) proposals, we consider both the interrelation between cultural dimensions and the diverse expressions of social capital with corruption. According to our results, the universalistic trust (linking and bridging social capital) constitutes a positive social capital that is negatively linked to corruption. In contrast, the particularistic levels of trust (bonding) can constitute a negative social capital directly related to corruption levels. Furthermore, cultures which are favourable to the legitimation of dependency relations and the formation of closed particularistic groups (power-distance and community factors) create a breeding ground for the development of these amoral rent-seeking structures.eng© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013Social capitalCorruptionCultural factorsNew economic sociologyjournal articleopen access