Evidence of Ethics and Misconduct in a Multinational Corporation: Motives for Growth of Corrupt Environments in Today’s Business World

Christian Truelsen Elbæk; Panagiotis Mitkidis

doi:10.1504/IJBGE.2021.10041702

Evidence of Ethics and Misconduct in a Multinational Corporation: Motives for Growth of Corrupt Environments in Today’s Business World

Christian Truelsen Elbæk^*, Panagiotis Mitkidis

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Management

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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Abstract

Unethical behavior, such as corruption and fraud, is a massive problem in today’s business world. Research in the fields of business ethics and moral psychology has presented compelling evidence of a series of behavioral concepts that might influence an individual’s propensity to engage in unethical conduct. Yet, it is still unknown how these concepts apply to more ecologically valid contexts such as real-world scandals on unethical behavior. Motivated by this, we use empirical qualitative evidence from one of Denmark’s largest corruption scandals to explore how well renowned concepts within business ethics and moral psychology hold up in the real world, when looking into both what causes unethical behavior and how it could be minimized. We find evidence that catalysts of immoral conduct in the case company are well supported by some of the most well-researched concepts in the research area, and our research indicates a possible real-world interaction between concepts.

Original language	English
Journal	International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics
Volume	17
Issue	1
Pages (from-to)	50-78
ISSN	1477-9048
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1504/IJBGE.2021.10041702
Publication status	Published - 2023

Keywords

business ethics
corruption
moral psychology
empirical qualitative evidence

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title = "Evidence of Ethics and Misconduct in a Multinational Corporation: Motives for Growth of Corrupt Environments in Today{\textquoteright}s Business World",

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Evidence of Ethics and Misconduct in a Multinational Corporation: Motives for Growth of Corrupt Environments in Today’s Business World. / Elbæk, Christian Truelsen ; Mitkidis, Panagiotis.
In: International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2023, p. 50-78.

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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AU - Elbæk, Christian Truelsen

AU - Mitkidis, Panagiotis

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

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AB - Unethical behavior, such as corruption and fraud, is a massive problem in today’s business world. Research in the fields of business ethics and moral psychology has presented compelling evidence of a series of behavioral concepts that might influence an individual’s propensity to engage in unethical conduct. Yet, it is still unknown how these concepts apply to more ecologically valid contexts such as real-world scandals on unethical behavior. Motivated by this, we use empirical qualitative evidence from one of Denmark’s largest corruption scandals to explore how well renowned concepts within business ethics and moral psychology hold up in the real world, when looking into both what causes unethical behavior and how it could be minimized. We find evidence that catalysts of immoral conduct in the case company are well supported by some of the most well-researched concepts in the research area, and our research indicates a possible real-world interaction between concepts.

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Evidence of Ethics and Misconduct in a Multinational Corporation: Motives for Growth of Corrupt Environments in Today’s Business World

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Keywords

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