Anticorruption effects of information communication and technology (ICT) and social capital

This article examines the argument that Information Communication and Technology (ICT) and social capital serve as major factors to reduce corruption. ICT has the potential to reduce unnecessary human intervention in government work processes, thus reducing the need to monitor corrupt behavior. Furthermore, citizens living in a society with a high level of social capital are more likely to become actively involved in the political decision-making process, increasing the likelihood that public employees' corrupt behaviors will be exposed to the densely connected public. We also examined the relationship between social capital and ICT. Our statistical analysis, which used panels of datasets obtained from various sources, revealed that (1) ICT is an effective tool for reducing corruption; (2) social capital also has positive effects on anti-corruption, but various dimensions of social capital may have different impacts; and (3) the relationship between social capital and ICT is inconclusive.