Religiosity and corruption acceptability in a developing country: does patriotism mediate the relationship?

Purpose Religiosity is believed to have an effect on corruption acceptability but the mechanism by which its effect is realized is not fully known. In this study, we explore the potency of patriotism as a mediating variable on the relationship between religiosity and corruption acceptability in a developing context. Design/methodology/approach We use cross-sectional data from the World Values Survey on Ghana which was collected from 1,552 respondents. We analyse the data using descriptive statistics, correlation and macro PROCESS model in SPSS. Findings We ascertain that while religiosity has a significant direct negative effect on corruption acceptability, it has no significant direct effect on patriotism or indirect effect on corruption acceptability. However, patriotism has a positive significant effect on corruption acceptability. Furthermore, the findings reveal that private-sector employees, as compared to public sector employees, are more likely to perceive corruption as unacceptable. Similarly, females are more likely than males to perceive corruption as unacceptable. We conclude that patriotism does not mediate the relationship between religiosity and corruption acceptability. Originality/value Our findings have bridged the gap in extant literature by revealing that patriotism is not an effective mediator in the relationship between religiosity and corruption acceptability in developing country context. Therefore, we provide evidence for building a strong link between religiosity and socio-moral conduct, where the conscience of citizens will be developed against the acceptability of corruption.