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The influence of personal and economic oppression on a country's corruption levels worldwide

PMCID: PMC11233946

PMID: 38988570

Abstract

This empirical research study endeavors to analyze the indirect association between oppression and corruption in 147 nations around the globe to answer one question: "Why does oppression drive corruption in many nations?" The author used secondary data from two different resources. The first source is the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), created by Transparency International (TI) in 2020, and the Human Freedom Index (HFI), co-published by the Cato Institute. In addition, the second source is the Political Stability Index in 2020 to test the three research hypotheses using the R-square, and Anova shows that the model is personal and economic oppression explains 53.5 percent of the variance. In addition, the Weighted Least Squares Regression Analyses imply that there is a positive and meaningful connection between personal oppression (β = 3.028, p < 0.000) and corruption and economic oppression and corruption (5.203, p < 0.000). This study's findings confirmed the theoretical and conceptual relationship between oppression and bribery and identified personal and economic oppression factors as the leading causes of corruption in many countries. The study findings also contribute to the literature and the industry as well. Theoretically, the study results help researchers to understand why oppression causes corruption at the country level. Practically, the study results help policymakers, educators, and international business planners to consider roots when making successful strategic decisions in the era of the globalized world. The author also discussed the research limitations and practical and theoretical implications.

Full Text

Corruption hurts the needy and helpless the most, raising costs and lessening access to fundamental benefits, such as education, health, justice, and social programs. Corruption aggravates inequality and lessens private sector acquisition to the liability of markets, economies, job opportunities, and economic growth [37]. The literature examination indicates that oppression, which is the opposite of freedom [1], has been related to corruption for a long time [1] (Fig. 1). Fig. 1, borrowed from the Corruption Perception Index 2023, shows how lack of freedom or non-democratic regimes correlate with corruption. Accordingly, North American and Western European countries are less corrupt than the African, South American, Central American, South West Asian, and West Asian countries.
Fig. 2 below supports the claim that freedom in Sub-Saharan Africa correlates with the level of corruption among these countries. Additionally, the education theory of Ibn Khaldun [2] backs the claim mentioned above). Ibn Khaldun [2] proposed his theory in education to recommend that school teachers and educators choose and develop teaching methods that fit their students’ stage regarding how to educate future generations and raise ethically educated people by not using punishment and oppression in education. In his theory, Ibn Khaldun believes that students, their teachers, and educators punished for making mistakes or not doing their homework, assignments, or exams are likelier to lie, cheat, or behave unethically to avoid punishment. Hence, oppression minority people who feel oppressed personally or economically are more likely to get away from oppression or get revenge on oppression by behaving unethically via accepting bribes or paying bribes.
Prior studies in the literature suggest that research has yet to empirically examine the relationship between oppression and corruption to confirm or reject that relationship in nations worldwide other than a recent study conducted by Abdelrahim, Eltoum, and Hassan [3]. These researchers have brought other researchers' attention to more precise topics to learn how oppression could influence unethical behavior, such as corruption. However, later researchers should have explained or examined more factors to help examiners understand why or which oppression factors cause corruption. In other words, these researchers have not identified specific oppression factors that cause corruption. Accordingly, the author of this analysis empirically endeavors to scrutinize the connection between oppression and corruption, identify the oppression factors that lead to or cause corruption in many countries, and fill the gap. In other words, this study tries to answer one research question: "What are the oppression factors (economic, religious, personal, political, social, racial, gender, or international trade factors) that influence corruption positively?"
Based on Cudd [4], oppression is "the absolute unfairness and mistreatment of social institutions and associations in societies." Cudd [4] also considers oppression as "institutional systems performed and conducted on clusters by different groups using explicit and avoiding material and inspirational powers that violate fairness." Additionally, Cudd [4] argues that avoiding material powers. For example, roughness and financial poverty drive social intimidation. Such characteristics impact an individual's ethical personality in a forced and impaired way.
Hence, being vulnerable to the previously cited manners and procedures has the promise to harm the personality of tyrannized individuals [5,6]. It is essential to express that corruption and oppression could be brought into existence and promoted by communities. Rousseau [7] claims that oppression can only arise when victimized individuals are inclined to surrender their liberty for some compensation that is obvious only to people in a civilized society. People who suffer from oppression in society are usually treated ruthlessly or are deprived or denied from having the same freedom, opportunities, help, rights, and benefits as others. Oppressive behavior differs from person to person. Three tiers of oppression—internalized, institutional, and interpersonal—are connected, and all three classes of oppression spread and strengthen one another [8]. Institutional oppression is the recurring injustice of individuals within a social identity class, reinforced and executed by the community and its organizations. Institutional oppression is exclusively based on the individual's membership in the social identity class [9]. Internalized oppression occurs when associates of an oppressed class tolerate or reaffirm harmful stereotypes averse to their group [10]. Interpersonal oppression is the belief that one class is better than other classes and has the privilege to oversee or control the other. Institutions shape interpersonal oppression into society and grant approval and support for the controlling group members to personally mistreat or disrespect individuals in the oppressed class [9]. Hence, a state of oppression will be maintained when all three tiers of oppression work together. Oppressive behavior can take multiple forms, varying from hostile comments constructed in ignorance to physical violence, insults, and threats [8].
TI [11] defines corruption as the regime, Administration, non-government management, administrators, and employees abusing authority with decision-making roles for personal interest and gains. The behavior of corruption comprises bribery, illegal enrichment, manipulating national aid, employing fellows and connections, and stealing. Caiden [12] claims several sources incorporate corruption, including psychological, economic, ideological, political, external, technological, and socio-cultural and technological factors. Research investigators such as Seldadyo and De Haan [13] specified financial and non-economic determinants and cultural aspects that construct corruption among nations. Rose-Ackerman [14], furthermore, always describes corruption as the "misapplied of shared authority for personal or governmental earnings." Rose-Ackeman [14] has provided illustrations of corrupt actions, including deception, spending and accepting illegal payments, conflict of interest, and theft. Furthermore, Uslaner [15] asserts that communities assemble "civilizations of corruption" since "a cruel rotation of increased imbalance, inferior out-group faith, and elevated corruption trap communities." Likewise, Uslaner [15] claims that individuals in unethical civilizations share in unethical circumstances not for enjoying their sinful heads but for being forced, and they have no other options.
Several researchers have examined and debated the relationship between oppression and corrupt practices theoretically and empirically. For example, Prasad et al. [16] directed the ethnographic literature on corruption. Prasad et al. [16] also argue that house cleaners and familiar people commit corrupt conventions in admission to restrain from racial and lineage clusters or as a manner to handle preceding oppression. Khaldun [17], who declared that oppression guides corruption, also discussed that oppression affects moral nature. Furthermore, the theory of education developed by Ibn Khaldun exemplifies the connection between intimidation and corruption. The core of Ibn Khaldun's theory is that tyrannized individuals will be unethical because intimidation affects a person's manners to understand how to deceive, defraud, and embrace all types of unethical conduct [2]. The sources of corruption lie in lawful imbalance, economics, inadequate approach options, and an inferior level of widespread faith, backed by this opinion [15]. In addition, Amundsen [18] revealed a contrary association between democratic systems and political lawlessness.
Furthermore, oppression, contrary to liberation, has been connected to corruption for a long time [1]. Moreover, McLaughlin [19] has examined power distance (PD) as a type of corruption. As declared by Hofstede and Hofstede [20], PD denotes the extent to which small influential associates of organizations and associations anticipate and bear that society does not unjustifiably distribute power. Unequally allocated power points oppression and absence of independence, McLaughlin [19] inferred that corruption also increases as PD within a nation rises. Hence, the author argues that oppression is one of the factors that positively influences corruption and posits hypothesis one (H1):
According to Cudd [4], economic oppression is paramount to all kinds of oppression. Hence, researchers need to pay more attention to investigating economic corruption. Multiple reasons initiate economic oppression, which hurts people's well-being, economic equality, and lives. These reasons include structural brutality, military blockades, and human privilege violations [21]. The literature review shows that financial oppression might take many forms, including, though not restricted to, low wages, coerced labor, deprivation of similar chance, practicing career discrimination, bonded labor, and financial prejudice founded on race, sex, religion, and ethnicity [22]. This qualitative study is critical to understanding and conceptualizing the many forms of economic oppression. Ann Cudd defines the significant powers of economic oppression as straightforward and indirect influences. Although socialism and capitalism are not intrinsically dictatorial, they "loan themselves to intimidation in typical forms" [4]. Dobel [23] claims that inequality in countries and societies with unequal economic and authority distributions has generated forces that have alienated individuals and guided them to social breakdowns. Social breakdown drives moral changes among individuals in a society; therefore, some individuals lose ties to their excellent moral principles because of the anomic conditions and behave unethically to achieve personal goals [24]. In addition, the theory of corruption, which brings together the economic, moral, social, governmental, and political motivations and ways of bribery in one hypothetical framework [23], implies that people's immorality created by moral changes due to economic inequality is a cause of corruption. Hence, people who feel oppressed due to their deprivation from decent jobs, social status, or political positions are more likely to behave unethically and be involved in corrupt behaviors. Following the discussion mentioned above, the author posits hypothesis two (H2) and hypothesis three (H3):
The publications in the literature review examination show that a nation's governmental volatility can influence the country's level of corruption. State flux has boosted corruption in the long term [25]. The political instability index assesses governmental instability. Researchers can get free access to the Global Economy via the Economist website at https://www.theglobaleconomy. com/rankings/wb_political_stability/. The Economist Study arranges all countries at a benchmark running from zero (0) to number ten (10), where the number zero (0) suggests a nation is not corrupt, and the number ten (10) denotes a country is highly corrupt.
In this research analysis, the author analyzed the influence of personal and economic oppression on corruption in one hundred and fifty-three nations employing the weighted least squares regression analysis. In addition, the author controlled political instability since political instability could influence both oppression (personal and economic) and corruption. The author uses the nations' political instability as a control variable to examine the effect of individual and economic oppression on corruption levels among nations and obtain more accurate outcomes. As said above, a country's political instability in nations can affect the nation's corruption level. The author utilized the WLSRA for experimenting with the simple regression examination assumptions indicating the abnormal distribution of the corruption dataset since the Shapiro-Wilk examination is significant (β < 0.05). Unlike the linear and nonlinear least squares regression approach, WLSRA does not connect with a specific type of operation employed to demonstrate the link between the function variables. Instead, weighted least squares display the interpretation of the model's spontaneous errors; these errors apply to linear or nonlinear operations in the parameters. The errors function by incorporating more nonnegative weights, or constants, corresponding to each data pinpoint, into the appropriate model. The weight proportions denote the data's precision incorporated by the examiner in the related observation. Optimizing the suitably weighted standard to determine the parameter patterns permits the weights to specify the contribution of every observation to the prior parameter estimations [26].
Nevertheless, the weighted least-squares regression approach, like the other least-squares techniques, is likewise suitable for the effects of outliers. If outliers are not studied and dealt with adequately, they will negatively affect the parameter estimate and other elements of a weighted least-squares estimation. Based on Modern Regression Methods, if a weighted least-squares regression raises the effect of an outlier, the examination results might be far less than an unweighted least-squares examination [27].
All through the outcomes of the Weighted Least Squares Regression Analyses technique (Table 1), the researcher of this examination endeavors to explain the deviations worldwide in the tendency to be corrupt. Table 1 depicts how all examined variables correlate in the Weighted Least Squares Regression Analyses. Table 2a, Table 2b Model 1 and Table 2a, Table 2b Model 2 indicate the propensity of a country to be corrupt versus personal oppression, economic corruption, and the country's political stability. The all-nations cross-sectional dataset for corruption under examination assesses corruption perceptions in one hundred fifty-three countries. The outcomes from the WLSRA examination imply that personal oppression (Per-Oppression) and economic oppression (Eco-Oppression) are two of the significant factors. These two factors impact the level of corruption in several countries since both are meaningful significantly in the WLSRA equation incorporated in this analysis (β1Per-Opression = 0.2356884, the p-value is less than 0.000; β2 Eco-Oppression = 0.1238071, the p-value is less than 0.000). Personal and economic oppression seem to have a notable and positive connection with the nation's corruption. Eventually, a country's political stability appears to be an influential variable to control for in the regression equations (β1 = 11.827, p-value<0.000).
The author of this study hypothesizes that high-oppressed nations are more likely to be corrupt than low-oppressed nations because oppression deteriorates people's values of integrity, truthfulness, and sacred and spiritual faith. In addition, the author also hypothesizes that High-oppressed individuals are more likely to be corrupt than low-oppressed individuals because oppression deteriorates people's values of integrity, truthfulness, and sacred and spiritual faiths. The WLSRA study reinforced this analysis of Hypothesis One (H1) and Hypothesis 2 (H2). In other words, empirical oppression has a powerful effect on the nation's corruption level.
The study outcomes affirm the meaningful connection between the oppression levels in a country and corruption among nations and governments and, with the empirical examination, added confirmation of facts to the publications. H1 is compatible with the findings of Abdelrahim, Eltoum, and Hassan [3], who examined the relationship between oppression as a dimension in general and corruption in countries without the two other elements that constitute oppression to determine precisely which oppression factor causes corruption. In addition, these study results also align with Partow, Moridnejad, Irannezhad, Parizadeh, and Dadpour [39], who confirm that economic oppression practiced by the Iranian regime in the education sector causes corruption. Furthermore, the study results align with Trianingtyas and Anam's [40] findings. These researchers found that oppression happens because the capitalist class wishes to retain its control and status quo. Moreover, this study's findings also support Hafez, Abd El Aziz, and Mahmoud's findings that argued that African-Americans and Nigerians have encountered oppression, violence, racism, marginalization, social inequality, and discrimination caused the Europeans have suffered from corruption [41].
The Human Freedom Index, a comprehensive measure of human freedom, defines oppression as a combination of economic, personal, and civil elements that restrict human freedom and foster oppression. This index, along with Baddock's [1] theoretical link between oppression and corruption, forms the basis of our discussion. The study results, which confirm that oppression leads to corruption in certain countries, underscore the importance of personal and economic factors. These findings are in line with Ibn Khaldun's theory of education [2] and Uslaner's [15] proposition that corruption stems from inadequate policy alternatives, economic factors, a lack of widespread faith, and legal imbalance.
Likewise, Amundsen [18] proved that there is an opposite affinity between political corruption and democracy. This study's results make sense since oppression deteriorates people's values of integrity and spiritual faith and affects their moral nature. The Institutional Anomie Theory developed by Messner and Rosenfeld [28] postulates that losing some cultural norms and values disconnects individuals from their social norms and laws and creates anomic conditions that make people behave unethically and justify their unethical behavior [29]. Likewise, in hypothesis three (H3), "High-oppressed economies are more likely to be corrupt than low-oppressed economies because oppression deteriorates people's values of integrity, truthfulness, and sacred and spiritual faiths." Oppressed people are more likely to be corrupt once their moral integrity deteriorates, anomic conditions are created, the disconnection from their social norms and rules will at hand, and people can find themselves behaving unethically and practicing corruption in different ways with their justifications.
Moreover, researchers such as Braddock [1] have acknowledged that oppression is associated with corruption and more elevated corruption levels in many nations. Theoretically, this analysis study's findings and conclusions could help educators describe why oppression drives corruption in some countries. Also, investigators could have a detailed conception concerning which corruption aspect delivers the majority corruption levels in societies worldwide. Practically, the outcomes of the analysis could help professors who tailor specific practicum school curricula that concentrate on dishonest behavior, such as corruption, to think about adopting autonomy, liberty, and honesty.
This study's empirical findings of the three supported hypotheses study align with the theoretical and conceptual findings of [1], Prasad et al. [16], Uslaner [15], and Ibn Khaldun's theory of education. All those scholars have theoretically linked oppression to corruption and ethical behavior. In addition, this study's findings support the empirical findings of Abdelrahim, Eltoum, and Hassan [3]. Unlike prior study findings, this study confirmed the theoretical and conceptual relationship between oppression and corruption and identified the exact factors that cause corruption (i.e., personal oppression and economic oppression)(Fig. 3) In his theory, Ibn Khaldun believes that students, their teachers, and educators punishing them for making mistakes or not doing their homework, assignments, and exams are likelier to lie, cheat, or behave unethically to avoid punishment. Hence, oppression minority people who feel oppressed personally or economically are more likely to get away from oppression or get revenge for oppression by behaving unethically via accepting bribes or paying bribes, which is a form of corruption. These researchers have brought other researchers' attention to more precise topics to learn how oppression could influence unethical behavior, such as corruption.
School administrators could include policies in their school system to guide their teachers in not oppressing students personally via any physical or emotional stress if they want to raise honest future employees who are not corrupt. These future employees are university and college. Hence, students' well-being (i.e., being happy, healthy, and secure) is essential to school educators, who must be oppression-free. It is critical for policymakers to pay more attention to what causes oppression among people in society [35] because oppression not only causes deep mental suffering but also could hurt a country's gross domestic product and human well-being. Policymakers, college, university, and school administrators can use this study's findings by incorporating professional development training sessions for teachers and professors to help them understand the importance of students not being oppressed [30] and how they can provide effective learning with more freedom and less oppression. Hence, these study outcomes might help business managers and supervisors treat their supervisees humanely to maintain employee morale.
Prospective research should investigate the impact of oppression on the corruption levels of individuals who might feel enslaved [36] and firm levels to comprehend the origin of oppression at different levels. Moreover, the conclusions of the analysis also provide directions for policymakers to raise awareness of oppression regarding the socioeconomic population. Ultimately, the study outcomes might help managers in business firms adopt strategies to crush legal, societal, political, artistic, personal, and institutional oppression.
Moreover, future research should include civil oppression since oppression encompasses civil, economic, and personal oppression. For example, oppression reduces freedom, jeopardizing human dignity and honor [38]. In addition, future research should also examine the relationship between personal oppression, economic oppression, civil oppression, cultural oppression [31], and corruption using primary data. Researchers who employ primary data acquire more in-depth insights from respondents. Surveys may not cover some respondents' opinions and experiences.
Moreover, this study controls for one political factor (i.e., political instability) influencing the dependent and independent variables. However, there might be more variables to control if there is evidence in the literature and the data available to support the claim and justify the control for any additional control variables. This study is limited to high-income and low-income countries. Some researchers find that low-income countries are more corrupt than high-income countries [32]. However, Huberts [33] claims that "whether this association is causal is unclear. Hence, future research should examine the relationship between oppression, economic oppression, personal oppression, and corruption in low-income and tribal countries with high levels of personal oppression and corruption [34]. Only then will the examination be repeated in high-income countries to confirm or refute the Graaf [32] claims. Finally, this study is limited to one control variable (i.e., political instability) for data availability and the supporting evidence in the literature. Future research could control for other socio-economic factors should they find evidence and data.
The author used secondary sets, available online to researchers free and without restriction (Table 3). Has the data associated with this study been deposited into a publicly available repository? The answer is no. My study provided online links to publicly accessible data.

Sections

"[{\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib37\", \"bib1\", \"bib1\", \"fig1\", \"fig1\"], \"section\": \"Introduction\", \"text\": \"Corruption hurts the needy and helpless the most, raising costs and lessening access to fundamental benefits, such as education, health, justice, and social programs. Corruption aggravates inequality and lessens private sector acquisition to the liability of markets, economies, job opportunities, and economic growth [37]. The literature examination indicates that oppression, which is the opposite of freedom [1], has been related to corruption for a long time [1] (Fig. 1). Fig. 1, borrowed from the Corruption Perception Index 2023, shows how lack of freedom or non-democratic regimes correlate with corruption. Accordingly, North American and Western European countries are less corrupt than the African, South American, Central American, South West Asian, and West Asian countries.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"fig2\", \"bib2\", \"bib2\"], \"section\": \"Introduction\", \"text\": \"Fig. 2 below supports the claim that freedom in Sub-Saharan Africa correlates with the level of corruption among these countries. Additionally, the education theory of Ibn Khaldun [2] backs the claim mentioned above). Ibn Khaldun [2] proposed his theory in education to recommend that school teachers and educators choose and develop teaching methods that fit their students\\u2019 stage regarding how to educate future generations and raise ethically educated people by not using punishment and oppression in education. In his theory, Ibn Khaldun believes that students, their teachers, and educators punished for making mistakes or not doing their homework, assignments, or exams are likelier to lie, cheat, or behave unethically to avoid punishment. Hence, oppression minority people who feel oppressed personally or economically are more likely to get away from oppression or get revenge on oppression by behaving unethically via accepting bribes or paying bribes.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib3\"], \"section\": \"The research gap\", \"text\": \"Prior studies in the literature suggest that research has yet to empirically examine the relationship between oppression and corruption to confirm or reject that relationship in nations worldwide other than a recent study conducted by Abdelrahim, Eltoum, and Hassan [3]. These researchers have brought other researchers' attention to more precise topics to learn how oppression could influence unethical behavior, such as corruption. However, later researchers should have explained or examined more factors to help examiners understand why or which oppression factors cause corruption. In other words, these researchers have not identified specific oppression factors that cause corruption. Accordingly, the author of this analysis empirically endeavors to scrutinize the connection between oppression and corruption, identify the oppression factors that lead to or cause corruption in many countries, and fill the gap. In other words, this study tries to answer one research question: \\\"What are the oppression factors (economic, religious, personal, political, social, racial, gender, or international trade factors) that influence corruption positively?\\\"\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib4\", \"bib4\", \"bib4\"], \"section\": \"Understanding oppression\", \"text\": \"Based on Cudd [4], oppression is \\\"the absolute unfairness and mistreatment of social institutions and associations in societies.\\\" Cudd [4] also considers oppression as \\\"institutional systems performed and conducted on clusters by different groups using explicit and avoiding material and inspirational powers that violate fairness.\\\" Additionally, Cudd [4] argues that avoiding material powers. For example, roughness and financial poverty drive social intimidation. Such characteristics impact an individual's ethical personality in a forced and impaired way.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib5\", \"bib6\", \"bib7\", \"bib8\", \"bib9\", \"bib10\", \"bib9\", \"bib8\"], \"section\": \"Understanding oppression\", \"text\": \"Hence, being vulnerable to the previously cited manners and procedures has the promise to harm the personality of tyrannized individuals [5,6]. It is essential to express that corruption and oppression could be brought into existence and promoted by communities. Rousseau [7] claims that oppression can only arise when victimized individuals are inclined to surrender their liberty for some compensation that is obvious only to people in a civilized society. People who suffer from oppression in society are usually treated ruthlessly or are deprived or denied from having the same freedom, opportunities, help, rights, and benefits as others. Oppressive behavior differs from person to person. Three tiers of oppression\\u2014internalized, institutional, and interpersonal\\u2014are connected, and all three classes of oppression spread and strengthen one another [8]. Institutional oppression is the recurring injustice of individuals within a social identity class, reinforced and executed by the community and its organizations. Institutional oppression is exclusively based on the individual's membership in the social identity class [9]. Internalized oppression occurs when associates of an oppressed class tolerate or reaffirm harmful stereotypes averse to their group [10]. Interpersonal oppression is the belief that one class is better than other classes and has the privilege to oversee or control the other. Institutions shape interpersonal oppression into society and grant approval and support for the controlling group members to personally mistreat or disrespect individuals in the oppressed class [9]. Hence, a state of oppression will be maintained when all three tiers of oppression work together. Oppressive behavior can take multiple forms, varying from hostile comments constructed in ignorance to physical violence, insults, and threats [8].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib11\", \"bib12\", \"bib13\", \"bib14\", \"bib14\", \"bib15\", \"bib15\"], \"section\": \"The concept corruption\", \"text\": \"TI [11] defines corruption as the regime, Administration, non-government management, administrators, and employees abusing authority with decision-making roles for personal interest and gains. The behavior of corruption comprises bribery, illegal enrichment, manipulating national aid, employing fellows and connections, and stealing. Caiden [12] claims several sources incorporate corruption, including psychological, economic, ideological, political, external, technological, and socio-cultural and technological factors. Research investigators such as Seldadyo and De Haan [13] specified financial and non-economic determinants and cultural aspects that construct corruption among nations. Rose-Ackerman [14], furthermore, always describes corruption as the \\\"misapplied of shared authority for personal or governmental earnings.\\\" Rose-Ackeman [14] has provided illustrations of corrupt actions, including deception, spending and accepting illegal payments, conflict of interest, and theft. Furthermore, Uslaner [15] asserts that communities assemble \\\"civilizations of corruption\\\" since \\\"a cruel rotation of increased imbalance, inferior out-group faith, and elevated corruption trap communities.\\\" Likewise, Uslaner [15] claims that individuals in unethical civilizations share in unethical circumstances not for enjoying their sinful heads but for being forced, and they have no other options.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib16\", \"bib16\", \"bib17\", \"bib2\", \"bib15\", \"bib18\"], \"section\": \"The relationship between oppression and corruption\", \"text\": \"Several researchers have examined and debated the relationship between oppression and corrupt practices theoretically and empirically. For example, Prasad et al. [16] directed the ethnographic literature on corruption. Prasad et al. [16] also argue that house cleaners and familiar people commit corrupt conventions in admission to restrain from racial and lineage clusters or as a manner to handle preceding oppression. Khaldun [17], who declared that oppression guides corruption, also discussed that oppression affects moral nature. Furthermore, the theory of education developed by Ibn Khaldun exemplifies the connection between intimidation and corruption. The core of Ibn Khaldun's theory is that tyrannized individuals will be unethical because intimidation affects a person's manners to understand how to deceive, defraud, and embrace all types of unethical conduct [2]. The sources of corruption lie in lawful imbalance, economics, inadequate approach options, and an inferior level of widespread faith, backed by this opinion [15]. In addition, Amundsen [18] revealed a contrary association between democratic systems and political lawlessness.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib1\", \"bib19\", \"bib20\", \"bib19\", \"enun_H1\"], \"section\": \"The relationship between oppression and corruption\", \"text\": \"Furthermore, oppression, contrary to liberation, has been connected to corruption for a long time [1]. Moreover, McLaughlin [19] has examined power distance (PD) as a type of corruption. As declared by Hofstede and Hofstede [20], PD denotes the extent to which small influential associates of organizations and associations anticipate and bear that society does not unjustifiably distribute power. Unequally allocated power points oppression and absence of independence, McLaughlin [19] inferred that corruption also increases as PD within a nation rises. Hence, the author argues that oppression is one of the factors that positively influences corruption and posits hypothesis one (H1):\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib4\", \"bib21\", \"bib22\", \"bib4\", \"bib23\", \"bib24\", \"bib23\", \"enun_H2\", \"enun_H3\"], \"section\": \"Economic oppression and personal oppression versus oppression\", \"text\": \"According to Cudd [4], economic oppression is paramount to all kinds of oppression. Hence, researchers need to pay more attention to investigating economic corruption. Multiple reasons initiate economic oppression, which hurts people's well-being, economic equality, and lives. These reasons include structural brutality, military blockades, and human privilege violations [21]. The literature review shows that financial oppression might take many forms, including, though not restricted to, low wages, coerced labor, deprivation of similar chance, practicing career discrimination, bonded labor, and financial prejudice founded on race, sex, religion, and ethnicity [22]. This qualitative study is critical to understanding and conceptualizing the many forms of economic oppression. Ann Cudd defines the significant powers of economic oppression as straightforward and indirect influences. Although socialism and capitalism are not intrinsically dictatorial, they \\\"loan themselves to intimidation in typical forms\\\" [4]. Dobel [23] claims that inequality in countries and societies with unequal economic and authority distributions has generated forces that have alienated individuals and guided them to social breakdowns. Social breakdown drives moral changes among individuals in a society; therefore, some individuals lose ties to their excellent moral principles because of the anomic conditions and behave unethically to achieve personal goals [24]. In addition, the theory of corruption, which brings together the economic, moral, social, governmental, and political motivations and ways of bribery in one hypothetical framework [23], implies that people's immorality created by moral changes due to economic inequality is a cause of corruption. Hence, people who feel oppressed due to their deprivation from decent jobs, social status, or political positions are more likely to behave unethically and be involved in corrupt behaviors. Following the discussion mentioned above, the author posits hypothesis two (H2) and hypothesis three (H3):\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib25\"], \"section\": \"Control variables\", \"text\": \"The publications in the literature review examination show that a nation's governmental volatility can influence the country's level of corruption. State flux has boosted corruption in the long term [25]. The political instability index assesses governmental instability. Researchers can get free access to the Global Economy via the Economist website at https://www.theglobaleconomy. com/rankings/wb_political_stability/. The Economist Study arranges all countries at a benchmark running from zero (0) to number ten (10), where the number zero (0) suggests a nation is not corrupt, and the number ten (10) denotes a country is highly corrupt.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib26\"], \"section\": \"Hypotheses test\", \"text\": \"In this research analysis, the author analyzed the influence of personal and economic oppression on corruption in one hundred and fifty-three nations employing the weighted least squares regression analysis. In addition, the author controlled political instability since political instability could influence both oppression (personal and economic) and corruption. The author uses the nations' political instability as a control variable to examine the effect of individual and economic oppression on corruption levels among nations and obtain more accurate outcomes. As said above, a country's political instability in nations can affect the nation's corruption level. The author utilized the WLSRA for experimenting with the simple regression examination assumptions indicating the abnormal distribution of the corruption dataset since the Shapiro-Wilk examination is significant (\\u03b2\\u00a0<\\u00a00.05). Unlike the linear and nonlinear least squares regression approach, WLSRA does not connect with a specific type of operation employed to demonstrate the link between the function variables. Instead, weighted least squares display the interpretation of the model's spontaneous errors; these errors apply to linear or nonlinear operations in the parameters. The errors function by incorporating more nonnegative weights, or constants, corresponding to each data pinpoint, into the appropriate model. The weight proportions denote the data's precision incorporated by the examiner in the related observation. Optimizing the suitably weighted standard to determine the parameter patterns permits the weights to specify the contribution of every observation to the prior parameter estimations [26].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib27\"], \"section\": \"Hypotheses test\", \"text\": \"Nevertheless, the weighted least-squares regression approach, like the other least-squares techniques, is likewise suitable for the effects of outliers. If outliers are not studied and dealt with adequately, they will negatively affect the parameter estimate and other elements of a weighted least-squares estimation. Based on Modern Regression Methods, if a weighted least-squares regression raises the effect of an outlier, the examination results might be far less than an unweighted least-squares examination [27].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"tbl1\", \"tbl1\", \"tbl2a\", \"tbl2b\", \"tbl2a\", \"tbl2b\"], \"section\": \"Findings\", \"text\": \"All through the outcomes of the Weighted Least Squares Regression Analyses technique (Table 1), the researcher of this examination endeavors to explain the deviations worldwide in the tendency to be corrupt. Table 1 depicts how all examined variables correlate in the Weighted Least Squares Regression Analyses. Table 2a, Table 2b Model 1 and Table 2a, Table 2b Model 2 indicate the propensity of a country to be corrupt versus personal oppression, economic corruption, and the country's political stability. The all-nations cross-sectional dataset for corruption under examination assesses corruption perceptions in one hundred fifty-three countries. The outcomes from the WLSRA examination imply that personal oppression (Per-Oppression) and economic oppression (Eco-Oppression) are two of the significant factors. These two factors impact the level of corruption in several countries since both are meaningful significantly in the WLSRA equation incorporated in this analysis (\\u03b21Per-Opression\\u00a0=\\u00a00.2356884, the p-value is less than 0.000; \\u03b22 Eco-Oppression\\u00a0=\\u00a00.1238071, the p-value is less than 0.000). Personal and economic oppression seem to have a notable and positive connection with the nation's corruption. Eventually, a country's political stability appears to be an influential variable to control for in the regression equations (\\u03b21\\u00a0=\\u00a011.827, p-value<0.000).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"enun_H1\", \"enun_H2\"], \"section\": \"Theoretical and practical implications\", \"text\": \"The author of this study hypothesizes that high-oppressed nations are more likely to be corrupt than low-oppressed nations because oppression deteriorates people's values of integrity, truthfulness, and sacred and spiritual faith. In addition, the author also hypothesizes that High-oppressed individuals are more likely to be corrupt than low-oppressed individuals because oppression deteriorates people's values of integrity, truthfulness, and sacred and spiritual faiths. The WLSRA study reinforced this analysis of Hypothesis One (H1) and Hypothesis 2 (H2). In other words, empirical oppression has a powerful effect on the nation's corruption level.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"enun_H1\", \"bib3\", \"bib39\", \"bib40\", \"bib41\"], \"section\": \"Theoretical and practical implications\", \"text\": \"The study outcomes affirm the meaningful connection between the oppression levels in a country and corruption among nations and governments and, with the empirical examination, added confirmation of facts to the publications. H1 is compatible with the findings of Abdelrahim, Eltoum, and Hassan [3], who examined the relationship between oppression as a dimension in general and corruption in countries without the two other elements that constitute oppression to determine precisely which oppression factor causes corruption. In addition, these study results also align with Partow, Moridnejad, Irannezhad, Parizadeh, and Dadpour [39], who confirm that economic oppression practiced by the Iranian regime in the education sector causes corruption. Furthermore, the study results align with Trianingtyas and Anam's [40] findings. These researchers found that oppression happens because the capitalist class wishes to retain its control and status quo. Moreover, this study's findings also support Hafez, Abd El Aziz, and Mahmoud's findings that argued that African-Americans and Nigerians have encountered oppression, violence, racism, marginalization, social inequality, and discrimination caused the Europeans have suffered from corruption [41].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib1\", \"bib2\", \"bib15\"], \"section\": \"Theoretical and practical implications\", \"text\": \"The Human Freedom Index, a comprehensive measure of human freedom, defines oppression as a combination of economic, personal, and civil elements that restrict human freedom and foster oppression. This index, along with Baddock's [1] theoretical link between oppression and corruption, forms the basis of our discussion. The study results, which confirm that oppression leads to corruption in certain countries, underscore the importance of personal and economic factors. These findings are in line with Ibn Khaldun's theory of education [2] and Uslaner's [15] proposition that corruption stems from inadequate policy alternatives, economic factors, a lack of widespread faith, and legal imbalance.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib18\", \"bib28\", \"bib29\", \"enun_H3\"], \"section\": \"Theoretical and practical implications\", \"text\": \"Likewise, Amundsen [18] proved that there is an opposite affinity between political corruption and democracy. This study's results make sense since oppression deteriorates people's values of integrity and spiritual faith and affects their moral nature. The Institutional Anomie Theory developed by Messner and Rosenfeld [28] postulates that losing some cultural norms and values disconnects individuals from their social norms and laws and creates anomic conditions that make people behave unethically and justify their unethical behavior [29]. Likewise, in hypothesis three (H3), \\\"High-oppressed economies are more likely to be corrupt than low-oppressed economies because oppression deteriorates people's values of integrity, truthfulness, and sacred and spiritual faiths.\\\" Oppressed people are more likely to be corrupt once their moral integrity deteriorates, anomic conditions are created, the disconnection from their social norms and rules will at hand, and people can find themselves behaving unethically and practicing corruption in different ways with their justifications.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib1\"], \"section\": \"Theoretical and practical implications\", \"text\": \"Moreover, researchers such as Braddock [1] have acknowledged that oppression is associated with corruption and more elevated corruption levels in many nations. Theoretically, this analysis study's findings and conclusions could help educators describe why oppression drives corruption in some countries. Also, investigators could have a detailed conception concerning which corruption aspect delivers the majority corruption levels in societies worldwide. Practically, the outcomes of the analysis could help professors who tailor specific practicum school curricula that concentrate on dishonest behavior, such as corruption, to think about adopting autonomy, liberty, and honesty.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib1\", \"bib16\", \"bib15\", \"bib3\", \"fig3\"], \"section\": \"Theoretical and practical implications\", \"text\": \"This study's empirical findings of the three supported hypotheses study align with the theoretical and conceptual findings of [1], Prasad et al. [16], Uslaner [15], and Ibn Khaldun's theory of education. All those scholars have theoretically linked oppression to corruption and ethical behavior. In addition, this study's findings support the empirical findings of Abdelrahim, Eltoum, and Hassan [3]. Unlike prior study findings, this study confirmed the theoretical and conceptual relationship between oppression and corruption and identified the exact factors that cause corruption (i.e., personal oppression and economic oppression)(Fig. 3) In his theory, Ibn Khaldun believes that students, their teachers, and educators punishing them for making mistakes or not doing their homework, assignments, and exams are likelier to lie, cheat, or behave unethically to avoid punishment. Hence, oppression minority people who feel oppressed personally or economically are more likely to get away from oppression or get revenge for oppression by behaving unethically via accepting bribes or paying bribes, which is a form of corruption. These researchers have brought other researchers' attention to more precise topics to learn how oppression could influence unethical behavior, such as corruption.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib35\", \"bib30\"], \"section\": \"Theoretical and practical implications\", \"text\": \"School administrators could include policies in their school system to guide their teachers in not oppressing students personally via any physical or emotional stress if they want to raise honest future employees who are not corrupt. These future employees are university and college. Hence, students' well-being (i.e., being happy, healthy, and secure) is essential to school educators, who must be oppression-free. It is critical for policymakers to pay more attention to what causes oppression among people in society [35] because oppression not only causes deep mental suffering but also could hurt a country's gross domestic product and human well-being. Policymakers, college, university, and school administrators can use this study's findings by incorporating professional development training sessions for teachers and professors to help them understand the importance of students not being oppressed [30] and how they can provide effective learning with more freedom and less oppression. Hence, these study outcomes might help business managers and supervisors treat their supervisees humanely to maintain employee morale.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib36\"], \"section\": \"Theoretical and practical implications\", \"text\": \"Prospective research should investigate the impact of oppression on the corruption levels of individuals who might feel enslaved [36] and firm levels to comprehend the origin of oppression at different levels. Moreover, the conclusions of the analysis also provide directions for policymakers to raise awareness of oppression regarding the socioeconomic population. Ultimately, the study outcomes might help managers in business firms adopt strategies to crush legal, societal, political, artistic, personal, and institutional oppression.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib38\", \"bib31\"], \"section\": \"The study limitations\", \"text\": \"Moreover, future research should include civil oppression since oppression encompasses civil, economic, and personal oppression. For example, oppression reduces freedom, jeopardizing human dignity and honor [38]. In addition, future research should also examine the relationship between personal oppression, economic oppression, civil oppression, cultural oppression [31], and corruption using primary data. Researchers who employ primary data acquire more in-depth insights from respondents. Surveys may not cover some respondents' opinions and experiences.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"bib32\", \"bib33\", \"bib34\", \"bib32\"], \"section\": \"The study limitations\", \"text\": \"Moreover, this study controls for one political factor (i.e., political instability) influencing the dependent and independent variables. However, there might be more variables to control if there is evidence in the literature and the data available to support the claim and justify the control for any additional control variables. This study is limited to high-income and low-income countries. Some researchers find that low-income countries are more corrupt than high-income countries [32]. However, Huberts [33] claims that \\\"whether this association is causal is unclear. Hence, future research should examine the relationship between oppression, economic oppression, personal oppression, and corruption in low-income and tribal countries with high levels of personal oppression and corruption [34]. Only then will the examination be repeated in high-income countries to confirm or refute the Graaf [32] claims. Finally, this study is limited to one control variable (i.e., political instability) for data availability and the supporting evidence in the literature. Future research could control for other socio-economic factors should they find evidence and data.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11233946\", \"pmid\": \"38988570\", \"reference_ids\": [\"tbl3\"], \"section\": \"Data availability statement\", \"text\": \"The author used secondary sets, available online to researchers free and without restriction (Table 3). Has the data associated with this study been deposited into a publicly available repository? The answer is no. My study provided online links to publicly accessible data.\"}]"

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