Abstract

An adaptation of Hofstede’s classic model of culture was applied to the fifty US states, to examine the connection between states’ cultural values and the prevalence of public sector corruption. While the culture-corruption link has been widely studied at the country level, little research exists that examines this phenomenon at the level of the states. The ambivalence of the findings may be attributable to the challenge of disaggregating minor cultural differences among the states, in contrast to the enormous heterogeneity of the world’s countries.