Perception of Official Corruption, Satisfaction With Government Performance, and Subjective Wellbeing—An Empirical Study From China

Abstract

Both corruption and subjective wellbeing are of concern to academics and governments. Although some evidence suggests that corruption deteriorates subjective wellbeing, the relationship between perception of official corruption and subjective wellbeing is still unknown. This study aims to examine the link between perceived official corruption and subjective wellbeing in the context of China and whether satisfaction with government performance has a mediating effect in the process. Based on data from China General Social Survey, a structural equation model was used to test the hypotheses. The results of 3,033 Chinese respondents suggest that perception of official corruption is negatively related to subjective wellbeing, and satisfaction with government performance plays a mediating role in the relationship between perception of official corruption and subjective wellbeing.

Enhancing Internal Control Mechanisms in Local Government Organizations: A Crucial Step towards Mitigating Corruption and Ensuring Economic Development

“…In particular, we would like to underline the importance of internal auditing in public organizations as a way to detect and reduce corruption. Corruption severely undermines the development process, as it is negatively related to fiscal space (Katuka and Mudzingiri 2023), productivity (Borovic and Radicic 2023), and subjective well-being (Ma et al 2022). Jeppesen (2019) argues that "commercial and political corruption leads to misstatements in the financial statements of both the corruption giver's and the corruption receiver's organizations".…”

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“…A lack of anti-corruption awareness encourages young people to tolerate bribes. Rose-Ackerman and Palifka (2016) observed correlations between quality of life and the propensity for corruption, while Ma et al (2022) found that the more satisfied a person is with their living conditions, the less likely they are to think about offering a bribe. Although one might state that quality of life and financial insecurity are correlated (Karam et al, 2022), the perceived quality of life has many more dimensions than just financial (Felce and Perry, 1995;Haraldstad et al, 2019;Costa et al, 2021), most of which are of a subjective nature and cannot be assessed by hard data and metrics (Ridzi et al, 2020).…”

Examination of the Effects of COVID-19 on Happiness in Different Geographical Regions with Piecewise Linear Panel Data Models

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