Can corruption connect you to politics? Nepotism, anxiety, and government blame

Abstract

Can corruption scandals trigger citizens to punish a poor‐performing government? Citizens often fail to punish governments with subpar policy outcomes because they tend to isolate politics from their personal life and avoid blaming one's own party. Challenging these popular beliefs, our findings from a survey experiment in South Korea indicate that corruption scandals accusing elected officials of nepotism trigger people to blame the government as the cause of their personal grievances. This effect is prominent among individuals who are highly worried about their own education, employment, and retirement, highlighting anxiety as a driving factor. Surprisingly, the effect of nepotism spills across domains; for example, college admission nepotism increases government blame for concerns on not only education but also employment and retirement. Moreover, nepotism may prompt partisans whose party is in power, who are otherwise less likely to blame the incumbent government, to attribute greater blame to the government. These findings imply that corruption scandals can alter perceptions of how government performance affects personal lives. Overall, the study suggests that nepotism in areas critical to personal well‐being may generate an effective opposition against poor‐performing government, as seen in the 2016–17 South Korean presidential corruption scandal.