Exploring the Role of National Leadership, Education, and Technology in Combating Corruption: Global Evidence

Corruption remains a persistent structural impediment to economic performance, undermining growth, distorting resource allocation, and weakening institutional trust. Identifying its key determinants is therefore essential for formulating effective anti-corruption strategies. This study empirically examines the roles of national leadership quality, the rule of law, information and communication technology (ICT), and education in shaping corruption outcomes, using an unbalanced panel of 136 countries over the period 2010–2023. A fixed-effects panel model with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors is employed to account for heteroskedasticity, serial correlation, and cross-sectional dependence. The results indicate that stronger leadership quality, greater ICT penetration, and a more effective rule of law significantly reduce corruption, whereas higher unemployment exacerbates it. Although education does not exert a direct effect on corruption, it plays an important moderating role by reinforcing the corruption-reducing impact of ICT. Likewise, leadership quality enhances the effectiveness of ICT and legal institutions in curbing corruption. Consistent with the principal-agent framework, these findings suggest that education and ICT help reduce information asymmetries and strengthen accountability. Overall, the study underscores the need for integrated anti-corruption policies that jointly promote leadership integrity, digitalization, and human capital development.