Reactions to sexual and monetary bribes

Objectives: We examine attitudes toward punishment of authorities and subordinates who participate in sexual and monetary bribery. Methods: A nationally representative sample of 1050 respondents were presented with vignettes in an experimental design. We manipulated the type of payoff, who requested the bribe, the gender of the participants, and how common such payoffs were in that setting. Results: In support of attribution theory, the results showed that respondents were more punitive toward authorities than subordinates and toward whoever proposed the bribe. The results also showed that respondents, particularly female respondents, were more punitive toward authorities when the payoff was sexual. Conclusion: The findings suggest that people become more punitive when sex is treated as a commodity. A three-way interaction indicated that respondents were particularly punitive toward authorities in the MeToo scenario, i.e., when a man offered a reward to a woman for a sexual payoff.