Culture, cognition, and political perception: an investigation into the impact on evaluations of politicians in corruption scandals

• Main Authors: Leong, Carmen, Descalsota, Ann Nicole Bernardino
• Other Authors: Saifuddin Ahmed
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities; Political scandals; Culture; Gender; Religion
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174465
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Gender and religious discrimination are pervasive in politics, molded by deeply ingrained societal norms. Alongside this, research shows that the favourability of a politician involved in a scandal differs among individuals and may stem from various pre-existing perspectives. However, a research gap remains on the potential influence of entrenched attitudes, such as cultural orientations, on political evaluations within a scandal context. Recognizing this research gap, we examine the significance of cultural factors and social media in shaping political evaluations in India (Study 1). We also examine if public evaluation of politicians in a scandal would be dependent on the gender and religion of the candidate (Study 2). The results of Study 1 validate our theoretical framework and indicate that cultural dimensions such as Horizontal and Vertical-Individualism and Collectivism, and Traditional and Secular-rational values significantly influence political evaluations within a scandal context. Additionally, our findings suggest that the relationship between specific cultural dimensions and political evaluations are also moderated by misinformation belief. The results of Study 2 reveal that a politician’s religion significantly influences political evaluations, with gender moderating this relationship. Our findings contribute to political scandal literature by explaining the roles of gender, religion and culture in shaping political evaluation.