Gender and Corruption: Laboratory Experiments in Colombian Universities
Gender and Corruption: Laboratory Experiments in Colombian Universities
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Funding: ICETEX, 2024–2025
PI: Giovanna Rodríguez-García - Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga (UNAB)
Co-PIs:
Liliana Marcela Bastos - Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander (UFPS)
Robert Gillanders - Dublin City University (DCU)
Other Collaborators:
Ina Kubbe - Tel Aviv University
Daniel Parra - Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW
This ICETEX-funded project, “Gender and Corruption: Laboratory Experiments in Colombian Universities,” uses vignettes and lab experiments with Colombian students to study the intersection between Gender and Corruption. The implementation period runs from September 2024 to October 2025, while we continue working on the academic publications that result from this research.
This project combines two complementary experimental designs with Colombian university students:
An online vignette experiment that varies the gender of public officials and political candidates in everyday corruption scenarios and measures expectations of bribery, electoral punishment, and willingness to report wrongdoing.
A laboratory experiment, implemented with monetary incentives, that observes decisions related to misappropriation of resources, prosocial behavior, and responses to different institutional and social framings.
On this page, you will find the main products of the project, including working papers, policy briefs, and events. Some outputs are still in progress, so this page will be updated over time to include access to selected datasets, instruments, and other sources generated by the project.
PUBLICATIONS
PUBLICATIONS
Género y corrupción: evidencias experimentales de percepción, castigo y denuncia en Colombia
Género y corrupción: evidencias experimentales de percepción, castigo y denuncia en Colombia
Authors: Giovanna Rodríguez-García & Liliana Bastos.
Status: Manuscript under review.
Description: This article presents evidence from vignette experiments in Colombia on how gender shapes perceptions of corruption, support for punishing corrupt actors, and willingness to report wrongdoing among university students.
Behavioral Determinants of Ethical Decision-Making: The Role of Pro-Sociality and Gender
Behavioral Determinants of Ethical Decision-Making: The Role of Pro-Sociality and Gender
Authors: Giovanna Rodríguez-García, Daniel Parra, Ina Kubbe & Robert Gillanders.
Status: Manuscript in preparation.
Description: This article uses a laboratory experiment to examine how pro-social motivations and gender shape ethical decision-making, focusing on when individuals choose to misuse resources, comply with rules, or act in favor of others.
OTHER ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTIONS
OTHER ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTIONS
(Book Chapter)
(Book Chapter)
Authors: Ina Kubbe & Giovanna Rodríguez-García.
Status: Preprint. Forthcoming in “Corruption and Sustainable Development Goals”, edited by Robert Gillanders & Chandan Jha.
Description: This chapter analyzes how corruption undermines SDG 5 on gender equality by restricting women’s access to rights, resources, and decision making, and shows how gender responsive anticorruption policies can help advance women’s empowerment and close key inequality gaps.
Anticorruption Policy for Female Empowerment
Anticorruption Policy for Female Empowerment
(Edited Book)
(Edited Book)
Editors: Robert Gillanders & Giovanna Rodríguez-García (Palgrave MacMillan).
Status: Editorial contract signed and publication scheduled for 2026.
Description: This forthcoming book examines how corruption restricts women’s access to power, resources, and justice, and shows how well designed anticorruption reforms can advance women’s rights and gender equality. It offers practical tools to integrate a gender perspective into integrity and transparency policies.
DISSEMINATION PRODUCTS
DISSEMINATION PRODUCTS
Debate Article:
Debate Article:
(Anti)corrupción con perspectiva de género: poder, desigualdad y representación simbólica
(Anti)corrupción con perspectiva de género: poder, desigualdad y representación simbólica
Reference: Hidalgo, M., Olivares, A., Toro, S., Rodríguez-García, G., Yanes Rojas, A., Lagos, N., Rudloff, O., Valenzuela Marín, A., & Navarrete Yáñez, B. (2025). Transparencia y corrupción en América Latina: Repensando estrategias para enfrentar los problemas de la región. Iberoamericana, 25(90), 221–246. https://doi.org/10.18441/ibam.25.2025.90.221-246
Description: This debate section explores how gendered power relations, inequality, and symbolic representation shape both corruption and anticorruption, and calls for a gender perspective that goes beyond simply counting women in office.
Policy Brief:
Policy Brief:
Paridad efectiva y lucha contra la Corrupción en el Área Metropolitana de Bucaramanga
Paridad efectiva y lucha contra la Corrupción en el Área Metropolitana de Bucaramanga
Author: Giovanna Rodríguez-García
Description: This policy brief shows how achieving real gender parity in local politics can strengthen the fight against corruption in the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area. Drawing on election and survey data, it documents women’s underrepresentation in power positions and offers concrete recommendations for parties, authorities, and civil society to link gender equality with local integrity and anti-corruption agendas.
Policy Brief:
Policy Brief:
El papel de la mujer en la participación política del Área Metropolitana de Cúcuta
El papel de la mujer en la participación política del Área Metropolitana de Cúcuta
Author: Liliana Bastos Osorio
Description: This policy brief shows how effective gender parity in local politics in Norte de Santander, especially the Cúcuta Metropolitan Area, can strengthen integrity and anti-corruption efforts. Using electoral evidence, it highlights women’s continued underrepresentation and offers practical recommendations for parties, authorities, universities, and civil society.
EVENTS
EVENTS
8th Academia against Corruption in the Americas (ACA) Conference (Bogota, Colombia)
8th Academia against Corruption in the Americas (ACA) Conference (Bogota, Colombia)
Co-organized with Universidad Javeriana and the Academia Against Corruption in the Americas Network
Public presentation of the results of the ICETEX project on gender and corruption, in an event co-organized in Bogotá with Universidad Javeriana and the Academia Against Corruption in the Americas Network. Preliminary results from the vignette experiment were presented and their implications for the public agenda were discussed.
ECPR General Conference 2025 (Thessaoliniki, Greece)
ECPR General Conference 2025 (Thessaoliniki, Greece)
International dissemination of the progress of the ICETEX project at an academic meeting held in Greece, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Focused on the design of the laboratory experiment and on the project’s methodological contribution.
II International Congress of the School of Economics and Business (UNAB) (Bucaramanga, Colombia)
II International Congress of the School of Economics and Business (UNAB) (Bucaramanga, Colombia)
Socialization session of the main findings of the ICETEX project with the academic community, held during the Congress of the School of Economics and Business at UNAB in Bucaramanga. This event enabled the dissemination of results to the national academic community and helped strengthen collaboration networks.
RESOURCES
RESOURCES
This project designs and tests experimental approaches to study how gender and prosociality shape decisions around corruption. Outputs include literature syntheses on Gender & Corruption, vignettes, and experimental instructions.
Vignettes
Vignettes
Here you can download the vignette scripts used in our first experiment on gender and corruption, including all versions shown to participants.
IMAGES AND VIDEOS
IMAGES AND VIDEOS
Recording: 8th Academia Against Corruption in the Americas (ACA) Conference – Bogotá, Colombia
Recording of the 8th ACA Conference held in Bogotá, co organized by Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and the Academia Against Corruption in the Americas Network. Several panels and roundtables on gender, integrity, and anti corruption in the Americas were made possible thanks to the ICETEX funded project “Gender and Corruption: Laboratory Experiments in Colombian Universities.”
Student Participation in Laboratory Experiment Sessions
Undergraduate students from Colombian universities took part in incentivized laboratory sessions designed to study ethical decision making, pro social behavior, and corruption related choices. Participants made real monetary decisions in a controlled environment, under strict ethical guidelines. Their choices help us understand how gender and pro sociality shape decisions about rule compliance, misuse of resources, and cooperation in everyday institutional settings.
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