Existing and Promising Theoretical Approaches to Understanding ICTs Contribution to Anti-corruption Efforts

Two theories, often presented as bifurcated, dominate attempts to understand corruption in the social sciences: collective action and principal-agent. Both theories seek to explain when and why corruption happens, as well as how it can be addressed. With the ICT4D field often criticized for being under-theorized, the following study explores which theories are drawn upon to understand ICTs as an anti-corruption tool in developing countries. Through a literature review of 20 years of IS and ICT4D research, the study analyses 19 peer reviewed journal articles’ theoretical underpinnings together with methodological approaches as well theoretical contribution. The results find that even if a few studies declare some, often only cursory, theoretical underpinnings and influences, they infallibly fail to present a theoretically informed analytical framework detailing ICTs contribution to anti-corruption. In conclusion, with most of the papers containing no theoretical references, the field is still clearly struggling with theory. The article discusses the benefits with appropriating theory, such as principal-agent and collective action as well as more critical approaches to un-pack ICTs contribution to anti-corruption efforts.