Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Normalization of Corrupt Business Practices: Implications for Integrative Social Contracts Theory (ISCT)

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

I propose that the emphasis on “authentic” norms in the ISCT literature does not encompass the possibility of community norms that facilitate and maintain corrupt behavior. To fill this gap, I build on the normalization of corruption literature to present a typology of community norms that distinguishes between authentic, behavioral, and aspirational norm types as well as between illegitimate, authentic norms and illegitimate, behavioral norms. By refining the terminology used to evaluate community norms, I propose that ISCT can be more easily applied to cases of systemic corruption.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ashforth, B. E., and V. Anand: 2003, ‘The Normalization of Corruption in Organizations’, in R. M. Kramer and B. M. Staw (eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, Volume 25 (JAI Press, New York, NY), pp. 1-52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, W., and A. Spicer: 2007, ‘When Does National Identity Matter?: Convergence and Divergence in International Business Ethics’, Academy of Management Journal 50(6), 1462-1480.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brief, A. P., R. T. Buttram, and J. M. Dukerich: 2001, ‘Collective Corruption in the Corporate World: Toward a Process Model’, in M. E. Turner (ed.), Groups at Work: Advances in Theory and Research (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ), pp. 471-499.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeGeorge, R.T.: 1993, Competing with Integrity in International Business, (Oxford University Press, New York, NY).

    Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, T., and T. W. Dunfee: 1994, ‘Towards a Unified Conception of Business Ethics: Integrative Social Contracts Theory’, Academy of Management Review 19(2), 252-284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, T., and T. W. Dunfee: 1999, Ties that Bind: A Social Contracts Approach to Business Ethics, (Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunfee, T.: 1991, ‘Business Ethics and Extant Social Contracts’, Business Ethics Quarterly 1(1), 23-51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunfee, T.: 2006, ‘A Critical Perspective of Integrative Social Contracts Theory: Recurring Criticisms and Next Generation Research Topics’, Journal of Business Ethics 68(3), 303- 328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Earle, J. S., A. Spicer and K. S. Peter: 2010, ‘The Normalization of Deviant Organizational Practices: The Growth of Wage Arrears in Russia, 1992–1998’, Academy of Management Journal (forthcoming).

  • Ermann, M. D., and R. J. Lundman: 2002, ‘Corporate and Government Deviance: Origins, Patterns, and Actions’, in M. D. Ermann and R. J. Lundman (eds.), Corporate and Governmental Deviance: Problems of Organizational Behavior in Contemporary Society (Oxford University Press, New York, NY), pp. 3-49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kogut, B., and A. Spicer: 2002, ‘Capital Market Development and Mass Privatization are Logical Contradictions: Lessons from the Czech Republic and Russia’, Industrial and Corporate Change 11(1), 1-37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merton, R. K.: 1968, Social Theory and Social Structure (The Free Press, New York, NY).

    Google Scholar 

  • Misangyi, V. F., G. R. Weaver, and H. Elms: 2008. ‘Ending Corruption: The Interplay Among Institutional Logics, Resources, and Institutional Entrepreneurs’, Academy of Management Review 33(3), 750-770.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichols, P.: 2001, ‘The Fit Between Changes to the International Corruption Regime and Indigenous Perceptions of Corruption in Kazakhstan’, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Economic Law 22(4), 864-972.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, D.: 2008, ‘Extending the Process Model of Collective Corruption’, Research in Organization Behavior 28, 107-135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinto, J., C. Leana, and F. Pil.: 2008, ‘Corrupt Organizations or Organizations of Corrupt Individuals? Two Types of Organization-level Corruption’, Academy of Management Review 33(3), 685-709.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spicer, A.: 2002, ‘Revolutionary Change and Organizational Form: The Politics of Investment Fund Organization in Russia, 1992-1997’, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 17(5), 91-124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spicer, A., T. Dunfee, and W. Bailey: 2004, ‘Does National Context Matter in Ethical Decision Making? An Empirical Test of Integrative Social Contracts Theory’, Academy of Management Journal 47(4), 610-620.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walzer, M.: 1994, ‘Thick and Thin: Moral Arguments at Home and Abroad’ (University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moore School of Business, Sonoco International Business Department, University of South Carolina, 1705 College Street, Columbia, SC, 29208, U.S.A.

    Andrew Spicer

Authors
  1. Andrew Spicer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew Spicer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Spicer, A. The Normalization of Corrupt Business Practices: Implications for Integrative Social Contracts Theory (ISCT). J Bus Ethics 88 (Suppl 4), 833–840 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0319-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0319-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation