Trends in international bribe‐giving: do anti‐bribery laws matter?

Purpose – This paper aims to examine whether the vigorous enforcement of anti‐bribery laws has had an impact on the propensity of firms to engage in bribe‐giving in international business.Design/methodology/approach – A set of statistical analyses was performed on data – Bribe Payers Index, a measure of bribe‐giving – from four years spanning a nine‐year period to ascertain trends in bribe‐giving.Findings – The results indicate that the perceived level of bribe‐giving by firms from the major exporting countries has been declining. This decline has occurred at a time when the enforcement of national anti‐bribery laws has been stepped up greatly and international treaties against bribe‐giving have been adopted and increasingly enforced.Research limitations/implications – A robust legal approach to curb bribe‐giving appears to have a general deterrent effect on the propensity of firms based in the countries studied to engage in bribe‐giving. Data availability is limited to about 20 countries.Practical implic...