Cultural factors that facilitate the institutionalization of corruption in Mexico

Absztrakt (kivonat)

This dissertation seeks to find which factors, including cultural values facilitate the institutionalization of corruption in Mexico, adhering to institutional theory. A profile of Mexican culture is outlined with the use of three different datasets: Schwartz‟s Seven Cultural Value Orientations, Hofstede‟s Six Dimensions of National Culture, and the GLOBE Project‟s Nine Cultural Practices and Values, as well as Nonaka‟s four forms of knowledge creation. The paper makes a qualitative illustration of the hypothesized profile, and links it to the institutionalization of corruption. Nine structured interviews were conducted with Mexican respondents from distinct sectors, and answers to a ten-question survey were gathered. The findings of this study are that out of the four forms, socialization is the main avenue of knowledge creation in Mexico, and that the prevalent values of Mexican culture are in-group collectivism, indulgence, hierarchy and particularism. All of these are factors that facilitate the institutionalization of corruption, magnified by the weakness of normative structures in Mexico.