Theories and Models of Corruption in Infrastructure Sector: A Literature Review

In the last decade, corruption in the infrastructure sector has grabbed the attention of researchers and policymakers; thus, numerous studies have been published with valuable insights into the manifestations of corruption. Additionally, many theories and models have been developed to understand its mechanisms to find effective anti-corruption solutions. However, a systematic literature review on those theories and models of corruption, essential for future research, is not available. Therefore, this paper systematically reviews all the existing perceptions, theories and models of corruption in the infrastructure sector. Twelve groups of theories and models were identified at three levels of analyses, i.e., Micro-level, Meso-level and Macro-level in economics, psychology, management and political science disciplines. The primary findings revealed that most research was conducted in developed countries; hence the theories and models are proposed accordingly. In the case of developing economies, more contextualized and updated studies are required. Therefore, this systematic review can be a valuable tool for researchers and policymakers to conduct empirical studies in future to gain a better insight into causal links of corruption in the infrastructure sector.