Findings on the effect of social status on corruption perception are mixed. To make sense of the mixed results, three studies were conducted to examine whether meritocracy moderates this effect. In Study 1, we measured all variables using a questionnaire-based correlational design. In the preregistered Study 2, we adopted an experimental design in which we manipulated social status using a false feedback paradigm and measured corruption perception and meritocracy. In Study 3, we manipulated meritocracy using a scrambled sentence task and measured its effect on the relationship between social status and corruption perception. The results consistently demonstrated that meritocracy could moderate the influence of social status on corruption perception. Specifically, social status was negatively associated with corruption perception when meritocracy was weak, whereas the association was not significant when meritocracy was strong. Our results suggest that meritocracy critically affects acknowledgment of the pervasiveness of social injustice and even deters the disadvantaged from fighting against corruption.

中文翻译：

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视而不见：任人唯贤调节社会地位对腐败认知的影响

关于社会地位对腐败认知的影响的研究结果喜忧参半。为了理解混合的结果，进行了三项研究来检验精英管理是否会缓和这种影响。在研究 1 中，我们使用基于问卷的相关设计测量了所有变量。在预先注册的研究 2 中，我们采用了一种实验设计，在该设计中，我们使用虚假反馈范式来操纵社会地位，并衡量腐败感知和任人唯贤。在研究 3 中，我们使用一个乱七八糟的句子任务来操纵任人唯贤，并衡量其对社会地位和腐败感知之间关系的影响。结果一致表明，任人唯贤可以调节社会地位对腐败感知的影响。具体来说，当精英管理较弱时，社会地位与腐败感知呈负相关，而当精英管理强大时，这种关联不显着。我们的研究结果表明，任人唯贤会严重影响人们对普遍存在的社会不公的认识，甚至阻止弱势群体与腐败作斗争。