A political scandal occurs when a government official or politician engages in unethical behavior that violates public standards and harms the interests of citizens. Such behavior often leads to investigations and resignations, and it may significantly impact the overall political climate. The media plays a crucial role in the emergence of political scandal, as it is often the first to investigate and report unethical behavior. In addition, it can pressure politicians to respond to allegations and thus shape the way that citizens evaluate them.
However, not all scandalous information has the same effects on citizens. Indeed, some research suggests that the scope of certain effects depends on important moderators such as politicians’ characteristics, their response, citizens’ prior views/attitudes, and contextual aspects. Yet, these potential interaction effects have rarely been explored in studies using experimental design (e.g., by employing panel designs with repeated measures).
Moreover, the influence of the media on the occurrence and consequences of political scandal remains unclear. In particular, the emergence of scandalous information via online and social media has not been fully examined in previous studies. It is therefore important to study the effect of this new type of media on the occurrence and consequences of scandalous information.
The purpose of this article is to synthesize the current literature on political scandal, with an emphasis on investigating potential interactions between moderators. To achieve this, we conducted a systematic review of research articles using different methodological approaches and regions. The final selection included a total of 228 studies.