The dark side of authority: Antecedents, mechanisms, and outcomes of organizational corruption

Journal of Business Ethics

Volumn 77, Issue 4, 2008, Pages 431-449

  Aguilera, Ruth V ^a   Vadera, Abhijeet K ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA CHAMPAIGN   (United States)

Author keywords

Authority; Bureaucracy; Corruption; Justification; Motivation; Opportunity; Types of organizational corruption; Weber; White collar crime

Indexed keywords

EID: 37749012221     PISSN: 01674544     EISSN: 15730697     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s10551-007-9358-8     Document Type: Article

References (73)

1. Aguilera, R. V., D. E., Rupp, C. A., Williams and J. Ganapathi. Forthcoming, 'Putting the S back in Corporate Social Responsibility: A Multi-Level Theory of Social Change in Organizations', Academy of Management Review
2. Ahmadjiam C., Robinson P. (2001) Safety in Numbers: Downsizing and the Deinstitutionalization of Permanent Employment in Japan. Administrative Science Quarterly 46:622-654
3. Albrecht W. S., Howe K. R., Romey M. B. (1984) Deterring Fraud: The Internal Auditor's Perspective. The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation, Altamonte Springs, Florida, USA
4. Anand V., Manz C. C., Glick W. H. (1998) An Organizational Memory Approach to Information Management. Academy of Management Review 23:796-809
5. Argandona A. (2003) Private-to-Private Corruption. Journal of Business Ethics 47:253-267
6. Ashforth B. E., Anand V. (2003) The Normalization of Corruption in Organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior 25:1-52
7. Barnard, C. I.: 1938, The Functions of the Executive. (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
8. Beasley M. S. (1996) An Empirical Analysis of the Relation Between the Board of Director Composition and Financial Statement Fraud. The Accounting Review 71:443-465
9. Bowen S. A. (2004) Organizational Factors Encouraging Ethical Decision Making: An Exploration into the Case of an Exempler. Journal of Business Ethics 52:311-324
10. Chen E. S., Tyler T. R. (2001) Cloaking Power: Legitimatizing Myths and the Psychology of the Advantaged In: Lee-Chai A. Y., Bargh J. A. (eds.), The Use and Abuse of Power: Multiple Perspectives on the Causes of Corruption. Psychology Press, Philadelphia
11. Clinard M. B. (1983) Corporate Ethics and Crime: The Role of Middle Management. Sage, Beverly Hills
12. Clinard M. B. and P. Yeager: 1980, Corporate Crime. (The Free Press, New York)
13. Cochran P. L., Nigh D. (1987) Illegal Corporate Behavior and the Question of Moral Agency: An Empirical Examination. In: Frederick W. C. (ed.), Empirical Studies of Business Ethics and Values, V. JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, pp. 73-91
14. Coleman J. (1985) The Criminal Elite: The Sociology of White-Collar Crime. St Martin's Press, New York
15. Conklin J. E. (1977) "Illegal But Not Criminal": Business Crime in America. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
16. Cressey D. R. (1953) Other People's Money. A Study in the Social Psychology of Embezzlement. Wadsworth Publishing Company, Inc., Belmont, CA
17. Davis G. F., Diekmann K. A., Tinsley C. H. (1994) The Decline and Fall of the Conglomerate Firm in the 1980s: The Deinstitutionalization of an Organizational Firm. American Sociological Review 59:547-570
18. Dechow, P. M., R. G. Sloan and A. P. Sweeney: 1996, 'Causes and Consequences of Earnings Manipulation: An Analysis of Firms Subject to Enforcement Actions by the SEC', Contemporary Accounting Research, 1-36
19. Dunn P. (2004) The Impact of Insider Power on Fraudulent Financial Reporting. Journal of Management 30:397-412
20. Finkelstein S., Mooney A. (2003) Not the Usual Suspects. Academy of Management Executive 17:101-113
21. Frederick, W. C. and J. Weber: 1987, 'The Value of Corporate Managers and their Critics: An Empirical Description and Normative Implications', Research in Corporate Social Responsibility (Greenwich, CT)
22. Gaviria A. (2002) Assessing the Effects of Corruption and Crime on Firm Performance: Evidence from Latin America. Emerging Markets Review 3:245-269
23. Global Corruption Report 2001, (Transparency International, Berlin)
24. Gourevitch P. (2002) Collective Problems in Monitoring Managers: The Enron Case as a Systematic Problem. Economic Sociology 3:1-17
25. Greenwood R., Hinings C. R., Brown J. (1990) 'P2-form' Strategic Management: Corporate Practices in Professional Partnerships. Academy of Management Journal 33:725-756
26. Grimes, A. J.: 1978, 'Authority, Power, Influence and Social Control: A Theoretical Synthesis', Academy of Management Review, 724-735
27. Gross E. (1978) Organizational Crime: A Theoretical Perspective. In: Denzin N. (ed.), Studies in Symbolic Interaction. JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, pp. 55-85
28. Habib M., Zurawicki L. (2002) Corruption and Foreign Direct Investment. Journal of International Business Studies 33:291-307
29. Howell J. M., Shamir B. (2005) The Role of Followers in the Charismatic Leadership Process: Relationships and their Consequences. Academy of Management Review 30:96-112
30. Kesner I. F., Victor B., Lamont B. (1986) Board Composition and the Commission of Illegal Acts: An Investigation of Fortune 500 Companies. Academy of Management Journal 29:789-799
31. Kramer R. C. (1982) Corporate Crime: An Organizational Perspective. In: Wickman P., Dailey T. (eds.), White-Collar and Economic Crime. Lexington Books, Lexington, MA
32. Lane R. E. (1954) The Regulation of Businessmen: Social Conditions of Government Economic Control. Yale University Press, New Haven
33. Latham G. P., Pinder C. C. (2005) Work Motivation Theory and Research at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century. Annual Review of Psychology 56:485-516
34. Leblebici H., Salancik G. R., Copay A., King T. (1991) Institutional Change and the Transformation of Interorganizational Fields: An Organizational History of the U.S. Radio Broadcasting Industry. Administrative Science Quarterly 36:333-363
35. Leonard D., Harrington A., Burke D., Rigas M., Rigas T., Cohen O. (2002) The Adelphia Story. Fortune 146:136-148
36. Lerner J. S., Tetlock P. E. (1999) Accounting for the Effects of Accountability. Psychological Bulletin 125:255-275
37. Lewin K. (1935) A Dynamic Theory of Personality. McGraw-Hill, New York
38. Lindgreen A. (2004) Corruption and Unethical Behavior: Report on a Set of Danish Guidelines. Journal of Business Ethics 51:31-39
39. Loebbecke J. K., Eining M. M., Willingham J. J. (1989) Auditors' Experiences with Material Irregularities: Frequency, Nature, and Detectability. Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory 9:1-28
40. Luo, Y.: 2004, 'An Organizational Perspective of Corruption', Management and Organization Review, 119-154
41. Mathews J. B., Goodpaster K. E., Nash L. L. (1991) Policies and Persons: A Casebook in Business Ethics. McGraw-Hill, New York
42. Matsumura E. M., Shin J. Y. (2005) Corporate Governance Reform and CEO Compensation: Intended and Unintended Consequences. Journal of Business Ethics 62:101-113
43. McClintock C. G., Messick D. M., Kuhlman D. M., Campos F. T. (1973) Motivational Basis of Choice in Three Choice Decomposed Games. Journal of Experimental Psychology 9:572-590
44. McKendall M. A., Wagner J. A. I. (1997) Motive, Opportunity, Choice, and Corporate Illegality. Organization Science 8:624-647
45. McLean B., Elkind P. (2003) The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. Portfolio, New York
46. Needleman M. L., Needleman C. (1979) Organizational Crime: Two Models of Criminogenesis. Sociological Quarterly 20:517-528
47. Robertson C. J., Watson A. (2004) Corruption and Change: The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment. Strategic Management Journal 25:385-396
48. Rodriguez P., Uhlebruck K., Eden L. (2005) Government Corruption and the Entry Strategy of Multinationals. Academy of Management Review 30:383-396
49. Schnatterly K. (2003) Increasing Firm Value through Detection and Prevention of White-Collar Crime. Strategic Management Journal 24:587-614
50. Scott R. W. (2001) Institutions and Organizations. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
51. Sedikides C., Brewer M. B. (2001) Individual Self, Relational Self, Collective Self. Psychology Press, Philadelphia
52. Seidman D. (2004) The Case of Ethical Leadership. Academy of Management Executive 18:134-139
53. Sherman L. W. (1980) Three Models of Organizational Corruption in Agencies of Social Control. Social Problems 27:478-491
54. Snyder M., Ickes W. (1985) Personality and Social Behavior. In: Lindzey G., Aronson E. (eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology. Random House, New York
55. Sonnenfeld J., Lawrence P. R. (1978) Why do Companies Succumb to Price Fixing? Harvard Business Review 56:145-157
56. Sutherland E. H. (1940) White Collar Criminality. American Sociological Review 5:1-12
57. Swartz M., Watkins S. (2003) Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron. Doubleday, New York
58. Swedberg R. (1998) Max Weber and the Idea of Economic Sociology. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
59. Sykes G. M., Matza D. (1957) Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency. American Sociological Review 22:664-670
60. Taylor S. E. (1989) Positive Illusions: Creative Self-Deception and the Healthy Mind. Basic Books, New York
61. Theobald R. (1990) Corruption, Development and Underdevelopment. Duke University Press, Durham
62. Trice H. M., Beyer J. M. (1993) The Cultures of Work Environment. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
63. Uphoff N. (1989) Distinguishing Power, Authority & Legitimacy: Taking Max Weber at His Word by Using Resources-Exchange Analysis. Polity 22(2):295-322
64. Waldman D. A., Javidan M., Varella P. (2004) Charismatic Leadership at the Strategic Level: A New Application of Upper Echelons Theory. Leadership Quarterly 15:355-381
65. Watkins S. (2003) Ethical conflict at Enron: Moral responsibility in corporate capitalism. California Management Review 45:6-19
66. Weaver G. R. (2004) Ethics and Employees: Making the Connection. Academy of Management Executive 18:121-125
67. Weber, M. [1922] 1978, Economy and Society (University of California Press, Berkeley)
68. Weisburd D., Wheeler S., Waring E., Bode N. (1991) Crimes of the Middle Class: White-Collar Offenders in the Federal Courts. Yale University Press, New Haven
69. Westphal J. D., Gulati R., Shortell S. M. (1997) Customization or Conformity? An Institutional and Network Perspective on the Content and Consequences of TQM Adoption. Administrative Science Quarterly 42:366-394
70. Wilks T. J., Zimbelman M. (2004) Using Game Theory and Strategic Reasoning Concepts to Prevent and Detect Fraud. Accounting Horizons 18:173-184
71. Windolf P. (2004) Corruption, Fraud, and Corporate Governance: A Report on Enron. In: Grandori A. (ed.), Corporate Governance and Firm Organization: Microfoundations and Structural Forms. Oxford University Press, Oxford
72. Zahra S. A., Priem R. L., Rasheed A. M. A. (2005) The Antecedents and Consequences of Top Management Fraud. Journal of Management 31:803-828
73. Zietz D. (1981) Women Who Embezzle or Defraud: A Study of Convicted Felons. Praeger, New York