Hierarchies, Power Inequalities, and Organizational Corruption

Journal of Business Ethics

Volumn 111, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 237-251

  Rosenblatt, Valerie ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII   (United States)

Author keywords

Awareness; Hierarchy; Inequality; Institutions; Legitimizing myth; Organizational corruption; Outgroup favoritism; Person environment fit; Power; Social dominance orientation

Indexed keywords

EID: 84870336442     PISSN: 01674544     EISSN: 15730697     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s10551-012-1204-y     Document Type: Article

References (114)

1. Ades, A., & Di Tella, R. (1999). Rents, competition, and corruption. American Economic Review, 89(4), 982-993.
2. Altemeyer, B. (1998). The other "Authoritarian Personality". Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 30, 47-92.
3. Anand, V., Ashforth, B. E., & Joshi, M. (2004). Business as usual: The acceptance and perpetuation of corruption in organizations. Academy of Management Executive, 18(2), 39-53.
4. Ashforth, B. E., Gioia, D. A., Robinson, S. L., & Trevino, L. K. (2008). Re-viewing organizational corruption. Academy of Management Review, 33(3), 670-684.
5. Bac, M. (1996a). Corruption and supervision costs in hierarchies. Journal of Comparative Economics, 22(2), 99-118.
6. Bac, M. (1996b). Corruption, supervision, and the structure of hierarchies. Journal of Law Economics and Organization, 12(2), 277-298.
7. Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
8. Barley, S. R., & Tolbert, P. S. (1997). Institutionalization and structuration: Studying the links between action and institution. Organization Studies, 18(1), 93-117.
9. Basken, P. (2007a). College Loan Corp. settles with Cuomo. The Chronical of Higher Education. Retrieved October 24, 2011, from http://chronicle. com/article/College-Loan-Corp-Settles/30507.
10. Basken, P. (2007b). Cuomo issues subpoenas to student-loan companies suspected of misleading marketing practices. The Chronical of Higher Education. Retrieved October 24, 2011, from http://chronicle. com/article/Cuomo-Issues-More-Subpoenas-in/81.
11. Bond, M., Leung, K., Au, A., Tong, K.-K., & Chemonges-Nielson, Z. (2004). Combining social axioms with values in predicting social behaviors. European Journal of Personality, 18, 177-191.
12. Brass, D. J., Butterfield, K. D., & Skaggs, B. C. (1998). Relationships and unethical behavior: A social network perspective. Academy of Management Review, 23(1), 14-31.
13. Brislin, R. W. (2009). Theory, critical incidents, and preparation of people for intercultural experiences. In R. Wyer, C. Chiu, & Y. Hong (Eds.), Understanding culture: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 379-392). New York: Psychology Press.
14. Burke, R. J. (2009). Greed. In R. J. Burke & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), Research companion to corruption in organizations (pp. 33-59). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.
15. Carrillo, J. D. (2000). Corruption in hierarchies. Annals of Economics and Statistics/Annales d'Économie et de Statistique, 59, 37-61.
16. Darley, J. M. (1996). How organizations socialize individuals into evildoing. In D. M. Messick & A. E. Tenbrunsel (Eds.), Codes of conduct: Behavioral research into business ethics (pp. 13-43). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
17. Darley, J. M. (2005). The cognitive and social psychology of contagious organizational corruption. Brooklyn Law Review, 70(4), 1177-1194.
18. Dasgupta, N. (2004). Implicit ingroup favoritism, outgroup favoritism, and their behavioral manifestations. Social Justice Research, 17(2), 143-169.
19. Detert, J. R., Treviño, L. K., & Sweitzer, V. L. (2008). Moral disengagement in ethical decision making: A study of antecedents and outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(2), 374-391.
20. Dicker, F. U., MacIntosh, J., Bennett, C., & Celona, L. (2008). 80 g 'Addicted to Love' Gov. New York Post. Retrieved June 27, 2010, from http://www. nypost. com/p/news/regional/item_wvrGfPkdSloVi8hmLdRQ0N.
21. DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147-160.
22. Eiras, A. (2003). Ethics, corruption and economic freedom. Heritage Lectures. Retrieved December 9, 2009, from http://www. heritage. org/Research/Lecture/Ethics-Corruption-and-Economic-Freedom.
23. Evan, W. M. (1963). Indices of the hierarchical structure of industrial organizations. Management Science, 9(3), 468-477.
24. Field, K. (2007a). N. Y. Attorney General pushes colleges to settle accusations of student-loan abuses. The Chronical of Higher Education. Retrieved October 21, 2011, from http://chronicle. com/article/NY-Attorney-General-Pushes/38464.
25. Field, K. (2007b). The selling of student loans: How 20 years of lenders' marketing strategies, from free toasters to kickbacks, gave birth to a scandal. The Chronical of Higher Education. Retrieved October 24, 2011, from http://chronicle. com/article/The-Selling-of-Student-Loans/12437.
26. Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1984). Social cognition. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
27. Frank, B., & Schulze, G. G. (2000). Does economics make citizens corrupt? Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 43(1), 101-113.
28. Fu, P. P., Wu, R., & Yang, Y. (2008). Chinese culture and leadership. In J. S. Chhokar, F. Brodbeck, & R. J. House (Eds.), Culture and leadership across the world: The GLOBE book of in-depth studies of 25 societies (pp. 877-907). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
29. Ghoshal, S., & Moran, P. (1996). Bad for practice: A critique of the transaction cost theory. Academy of Management Review, 21(1), 13-47.
30. Gioia, D. A. (1992). Pinto fires and personal ethics: A script analysis of missed opportunities. Journal of Business Ethics, 11(5/6), 379-389.
31. Glick, P., & Fiske, S. T. (2001). An ambivalent alliance: Hostile and Benevolent Sexism as complementary justification for gender inequality. American Psychologist, 56(2), 109-118.
32. Gorodnichenko, Y., & Peter, K. S. (2007). Public sector pay and corruption: Measuring bribery from micro data. Journal of Public Economics, 91(5-6), 963-991.
33. Gray, K., Frieder, L., & Clark, G. (2005). Corporate scandals, the many faces of greed: The great heist, financial bubbles, and the absence of virtue. St. Paul: Paragon House Publishers.
34. Haley, H., & Sidanius, J. (2005). Person organization congruence and the maintenance of group-based social hierarchy: A social dominance perspective. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 8(2), 187-203.
35. Heidenheimer, A. J. (1970). Political corruption: Readings in comparative analysis. New York: Holt.
36. Heidenheimer, A. J., & Johnston, M. (2002). Political corruption: Concepts & contexts. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
37. Hofstede, G. H. (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
38. Hosmer, L. T. (1995). Trust: The connecting link between organizational theory and philosophical ethics. Academy of Management Review, 20(2), 379-403.
39. House, R. J., Hanges, P., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
40. Husted, B. W. (1999). Wealth, culture, and corruption. Journal of International Business Studies, 30(2), 339-341.
41. Jackson, L. E., & Gaertner, L. (2010). Mechanisms of moral disengagement and their differential use by right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation in support of war. Aggressive Behavior, 35(1), 1-13.
42. Jones, G. E., & Kavanagh, M. J. (1996). An experimental examination of the effects of individual and situational factors on unethical behavioral intentions in the workplace. Journal of Business Ethics, 15(5), 511-523.
43. Jost, J. T. (2001). Outgroup favoritism and the theory of system justification: An experimental paradigm for investigating the effects of socio-economic success on stereotype content. In G. Moskowitz (Ed.), Cognitive social psychology: The Princeton Symposium on the legacy and future of social cognition (pp. 89-102). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
44. Jost, J. T., & Banaji, M. R. (1994). The role of stereotyping in system-justification and the production of false consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 33(1), 1-27.
45. Jost, J. T., Banaji, M. R., & Nosek, B. A. (2004). A decade of system justification theory: Accumulated evidence of conscious and unconscious bolstering of the status quo. Political Psychology, 25(6), 881-919.
46. Jost, J. T., Pelham, B. W., & Carvallo, M. R. (2002). Non-conscious forms of system justification: Implicit and behavioral preferences for higher status groups. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38(6), 586-602.
47. Jost, J. T., & Thompson, E. P. (2000). Group-based dominance and opposition to equality as independent predictors of self-esteem. Ethnocentrism, and social policy attitudes among African Americans and European Americans. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36(3), 209-232.
48. Kahneman, D. (2003). A perspective on judgment and choice: Mapping bounded rationality. American Psychologist, 58(9), 697-720.
49. Kessler, A. S. (2000). On monitoring and collusion in hierarchies. Journal of Economic Theory, 91(2), 280-291.
50. Khalil, F., & Lawarrée, J. (1995). Collusive auditors. American Economic Review, 85(2), 442.
51. Kipnis, D. (1972). Does power corrupt? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24(1), 33-41.
52. Klitgaart, R. (1991). Gifts and bribes. In R. J. Zechauser (Ed.), Strategy and choice. Cambridge: MIT Press.
53. Kofman, F., & Lawarrée, J. (1993). Collusion in hierarchical agency. Econometrica, 61(3), 629-656.
54. Kramer, R. C. (1992). The space shuttle challenger explosion: A case study of state-corporate crime. In K. Schlegel & D. Weisburd (Eds.), White collar crime reconsidered (pp. 214-243). Richmond, VA: Northeastern University Press.
55. Lambsdorff, J. G. (2006). Causes and consequences of corruption: What do we know from a cross-section of countries? In S. Rose-Ackerman (Ed.), International handbook of the economics of corruption (pp. 3-51). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.
56. Lampe, J. C., & Finn, D. W. (1992). A model of auditors' ethical decision processes. Auditing, 11, 33-59.
57. Lange, D. (2008). A multidimensional conceptualization of organizational corruption control. Academy of Management Review, 33(3), 710-729.
58. Lee-Chai, A. Y., & Bargh, J. A. (Eds.). (2001). The use and abuse of power: Multiple perspectives on the causes of corruption. Ann Harbor, MI: Sheridan Books.
59. Leung, R. (2004). Sam Waksal: I was arrogant. 60 Minutes. Retrieved June 27, 2010, from http://www. cbsnews. com/stories/2003/10/02/60minutes/main576328. shtml.
60. Licht, A. N., Goldschmidt, C., & Schwartz, S. H. (2007). Culture rules: The foundations of the rule of law and other norms of governance. Journal of Comparative Economics, 35(4), 659-688.
61. Lowenstein, R. (2006). As Governor, what would his battles be. The New York Times. Retrieved July 16, 2010, from http://www. nytimes. com/2006/07/16/business/yourmoney/16shelf. html.
62. Luo, Y. (1997). Guanxi: Principles, philosophies, and implications. Human Systems Management, 16(1), 43.
63. Martin, K. D., Cullen, J. B., Johnson, J. L., & Parboteeah, K. P. (2007). Deciding to bribe: A cross-level analysis of firm and home country influences on bribery activity. Academy of Management Journal, 50(6), 1401-1422.
64. Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83(2), 340-363.
65. Misangyi, V. F., Weaver, G. R., & Elms, H. (2008). Ending corruption: The interplay among institutional logics, resources, and institutional entrepreneurs. Academy of Management Review, 33(3), 750-770.
66. Mishra, A. (2002). Hierarchies, incentives and collusion in a model of enforcement. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 47(2), 165-178.
67. Mishra, A. (2006a). Corruption, hierarchies and bureaucratic structure. In S. Rose-Ackerman (Ed.), International handbook of the economics of corruption (pp. 189-215). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.
68. Mishra, A. (2006b). Persistence of corruption: Some theoretical perspectives. World Development, 34(2), 349-358.
69. Moore, C. (2008). Moral disengagement in processes of organizational corruption. Journal of Business Ethics, 80(1), 129-139.
70. Moore, D. A., & Loewenstein, G. (2004). Self-interest, automaticity, and the psychology of conflict of interest. Social Justice Research, 17(2), 189-202.
71. Nieuwenboer, N. A., & Kaptein, M. (2008). Spiraling down into corruption: A dynamic analysis of the social identity processes that cause corruption in organizations to grow. Journal of Business Ethics, 83(2), 133-146.
72. Nwabuzor, A. (2005). Corruption and development: New initiatives in economic openness and strengthened rule of law. Journal of Business Ethics, 59(1), 121-138.
73. Osipian, A. (2007). Corruption in higher education: Conceptual approaches and measurement techniques. Research in Comparative and International Education, 2(4), 313-332.
74. Osipian, A. (2008). Political graft and education corruption in Ukraine: Compliance, collusion, and control. Demokratizatsiya, 16(4), 323-344.
75. Osipian, A. (2009). Corruption hierarchies in higher education in the former Soviet Bloc. The International Journal of Educational Development, 29(3), 321-330.
76. Osipian, A. (2010). Corrupt organizational hierarchies in the former Soviet Bloc. Transition Studies Review, 17(4), 822-836.
77. Palmer, D. (2008). Extending the process model of collective corruption. Research in Organizational Behavior, 28, 107-135.
78. Payne, J. W., Bettman, J. R., & Johnson, E. J. (1992). Behavioral decision research: A constructive processing perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 43(1), 87-131.
79. Pratto, F., Liu, J. H., Levin, S., Sidanius, J., Shih, M., Bachrach, H., et al. (2000). Social dominance orientation and the legitimization of inequality across cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 31(3), 369-409.
80. Pratto, F., Sidanius, J., & Levin, S. (2006). Social dominance theory and the dynamics of intergroup relations: Taking stock and looking forward. European Review of Social Psychology, 17(1), 271-320.
81. Pratto, F., Sidanius, J., Stallworth, L. M., & Malle, B. F. (1994). Social dominance orientation: A personality variable predicting social and political attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(4), 741-763.
82. Pratto, F., Stallworth, L. M., Sidanius, J., & Siers, B. (1997). The gender gap in occupational role attainment: A social dominance approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(1), 37-53.
83. Rajan, R. G., & Wulf, J. (2006). The flattening firm: Evidence from panel data on the changing nature of corporate hierarchies. Review of Economics and Statistics, 88(4), 759-773.
84. Rest, J. R. (1986). Moral development: Advances in research and theory. New York: Praeger.
85. Reynolds, S. J. (2006). Moral awareness and ethical predispositions: Investigating the role of individual differences in the recognition of moral issues. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(1), 233-243.
86. Rose-Ackerman, S. (2001). Trust, honesty, and corruption: Reflection on the state-building process. John M. Olin Center for Studies in Law, Economics, and Public Policy Working Papers, Yale Law School.
87. Rothstein, B., & Uslaner, E. (2005). All for all: Equality, corruption, and social trust. World Politics, 51(1), 41-72.
88. Rudman, L. A., Feinberg, J., & Fairchild, K. (2002). Minority members' implicit attitudes: Automatic ingroup bias as a function of group status. Social Cognition, 20(4), 294-320.
89. Rudman, L. A., & Kilianski, S. E. (2000). Implicit and explicit attitudes toward female authority. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26(11), 1315-1328.
90. Schlegel, K., & Weisburd, D. (1992). White collar crime reconsidered. Richmond, VA: Northeastern University Press.
91. Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 1-65). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
92. Scott, W. R., & Davis, G. F. (2007). Organizations and organizing: Rational, natural, and open systems. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
93. Sidanius, J., Levin, S., Liu, J. H., & Pratto, F. (2000). Social dominance orientation, anti-egalitarianism and the political psychology of gender: An extension and cross-cultural replication. European Journal of Social Psychology, 30(1), 41-67.
94. Sidanius, J., & Liu, J. H. (1992). The Gulf War and the Rodney King Beating: Implications of the general conservatism and social dominance perspectives. Journal of Social Psychology, 132(6), 685-700.
95. Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
96. Sidanius, J., Pratto, F., Martin, M., & Stallworth, L. M. (1991). Consensual racism and career track: Some implications of social dominance theory. Political Psychology, 12(4), 691-721.
97. Sidanius, J., Pratto, F., van Laar, C., & Levin, S. (2004). Social dominance theory: Its agenda and method. Political Psychology, 25(6), 845-880.
98. Sidanius, J., van Laar, C., Levin, S., & Sinclair, S. (2003). Social hierarchy maintenance and assortment into social roles: A social dominance perspective. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 6(4), 333-352.
99. Simon, H. A. (1955). A behavioral model of rational choice. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 69(1), 99-118.
100. Sinclair, S., Sidanius, J., & Levin, S. (1998). The interface between ethnic and social system attachment: The differential effects of hierarchy-enhancing and hierarchy-attenuating environments. Journal of Social Issues, 54(4), 741-757.
101. Singhapakdi, A., Vitell, S. J., & Kraft, K. L. (1996). Moral intensity and ethical decision making of marketing professionals. Journal of Business Research, 36(3), 245-255.
102. Solar, D., & Bruehl, D. (1971). Machiavellianism and locus of control: Two conceptions of interpersonal power. Psychological Reports, 29(3), 1079-1082.
103. Steidlmeier, P. (1999). Gift giving, bribery and corruption: Ethical management of business relationships in China. Journal of Business Ethics, 20(2), 121-132.
104. Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7-24). Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall.
105. Toffler, B. L., & Reingold, J. (2003). Final accounting: Ambition, greed and the fall of Arthur Andersen. New York: Broadway Books.
106. Transparency International. (2009). Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. Accessed August 21, from, http://www. transparency. org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2009.
107. Treviño, L. K., Weaver, G. R., & Reynolds, S. J. (2006). Behavioral ethics in organizations: A review. Journal of Management, 32(6), 951-990.
108. Uslaner, E. M., & Brown, M. (2005). Inequality, trust, and civic engagement. American Politics Research, 33(6), 868-894.
109. Verbeke, W., Ouwerkerk, C., & Peelen, E. (1996). Exploring the contextual and individual factors on ethical decision making of salespeople. Journal of Business Ethics, 15(11), 1175-1187.
110. Waite, D., & Allen, D. (2003). Corruption and abuse of power in educational administration. The Urban Review, 35(4), 281-296.
111. Whitley, B. E., & Ægisdóttir, S. (2000). The gender belief system, authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and heterosexuals' attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Sex Roles, 42(11), 947-967.
112. Williamson, O. E. (1973). Markets and hierarchies: Some elementary considerations. American Economic Review, 63(2), 316-325.
113. Yang, M. M. (1994). Gifts, favors, banquets: The art of social relationships in China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
114. Zucker, L. G. (1977). The role of institutionalization in cultural persistence. American Sociological Review, 42(5), 726-743.