IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/worbus/v51y2016i1p35-49.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corruption in international business

Author

Listed:
  • Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro

Abstract

I analyze corruption in international business, presenting a critical assessment of the topic and providing suggestions for future research. I argue that corruption creates a laboratory for expanding international business studies because its illegal nature, the differences in perception about illegality, and the variation in the enforcement of laws against bribery across countries challenge some of the assumptions upon which arguments have been built, i.e., that managers can choose appropriate actions without major legal implications. Hence, I first provide suggestion for how to analyze the topic of corruption in future studies by analyzing the types, measures, causes, consequences, and controls of corruption. I then provide suggestions for how to extend leading theories of the firm by using corruption as a laboratory that challenges some of the assumptions of these theories: extending agency theory by analyzing the existence of unethical agency relationships; extending transaction cost economics by analyzing illegal transaction costs minimization; extending the resource-based view by studying corporate social irresponsibility capability; extending resource dependency by analyzing the ethical power escape; and extending neo-institutional theory by studying illegal legitimacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro, 2016. "Corruption in international business," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 35-49.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:51:y:2016:i:1:p:35-49
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jwb.2015.08.015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951615000681
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jwb.2015.08.015?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jakob Svensson, 2003. "Who Must Pay Bribes and How Much? Evidence from a Cross Section of Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 207-230.
    2. Yan Leung Cheung & P. Raghavendra Rau & Aris Stouraitis, 2012. "How much do firms pay as bribes and what benefits do they get? Evidence from corruption cases worldwide," NBER Working Papers 17981, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Ivan Montiel & Bryan W. Husted & Petra Christmann, 2012. "Using private management standard certification to reduce information asymmetries in corrupt environments," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(9), pages 1103-1113, September.
    4. Erin Anderson & Hubert Gatignon, 1986. "Modes of Foreign Entry: A Transaction Cost Analysis and Propositions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 17(3), pages 1-26, September.
    5. Shang-Jin Wei, 1997. "Why is Corruption So Much More Taxing Than Tax? Arbitrariness Kills," NBER Working Papers 6255, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Toke S. Aidt, 2009. "Corruption, institutions, and economic development," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(2), pages 271-291, Summer.
    7. Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro, 2008. "Better the devil you don't know: Types of corruption and FDI in transition economies," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 12-27, March.
    8. Forssbaeck, Jens & Oxelheim, Lars, 2014. "The Oxford Handbook of Economic and Institutional Transparency," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199917693.
    9. Campos, Nauro & Saleh, Ahmad & Dimova, Ralitza, 2010. "Whither Corruption? A Quantitative Survey of the Literature on Corruption and Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 8140, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Petrou, Andreas P. & Thanos, Ioannis C., 2014. "The “grabbing hand” or the “helping hand” view of corruption: Evidence from bank foreign market entries," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 444-454.
    11. Park, Junghee, 2012. "Corruption, soundness of the banking sector, and economic growth: A cross-country study," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 907-929.
    12. Chuck C Y Kwok & Solomon Tadesse, 2006. "The MNC as an agent of change for host-country institutions: FDI and corruption," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 767-785, November.
    13. Xiaolan Zheng & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Chuck C Y Kwok, 2013. "Collectivism and corruption in bank lending," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(4), pages 363-390, May.
    14. Joshua D. Potter & Margit Tavits, 2011. "Curbing Corruption with Political Institutions," Chapters, in: Susan Rose-Ackerman & Tina Søreide (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption, Volume Two, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Nathan M Jensen & Quan Li & Aminur Rahman, 2010. "Understanding corruption and firm responses in cross-national firm-level surveys," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(9), pages 1481-1504, December.
    16. Vanessa M Strike & Jijun Gao & Pratima Bansal, 2006. "Being good while being bad: social responsibility and the international diversification of US firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 850-862, November.
    17. Lance Eliot Brouthers & Yan Gao & Jason Patrick McNicol, 2008. "Corruption and market attractiveness influences on different types of FDI," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 673-680, June.
    18. Bryan W Husted, 1999. "Wealth, Culture, and Corruption," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(2), pages 339-359, June.
    19. Shang-Jin Wei, 1999. "Corruption in economic development - beneficial grease, minor annoyance, or major obstacle?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2048, The World Bank.
    20. Toke S. Aidt, 2003. "Economic analysis of corruption: a survey," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(491), pages 632-652, November.
    21. Pranab Bardhan, 1997. "Corruption and Development: A Review of Issues," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 1320-1346, September.
    22. Klaus Uhlenbruck & Peter Rodriguez & Jonathan Doh & Lorraine Eden, 2006. "The Impact of Corruption on Entry Strategy: Evidence from Telecommunication Projects in Emerging Economies," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 402-414, June.
    23. Arvind K. Jain, 2001. "Corruption: A Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 71-121, February.
    24. Sheila Puffer & Daniel McCarthy & Mike Peng, 2013. "Managing favors in a global economy," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 321-326, June.
    25. Peter J. Buckley & Mark Casson, 1991. "The Future of the Multinational Enterprise," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, edition 0, number 978-1-349-21204-0, December.
    26. Jakob Svensson, 2005. "Eight Questions about Corruption," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 19-42, Summer.
    27. Shang-Jin Wei, 2000. "How Taxing is Corruption on International Investors?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(1), pages 1-11, February.
    28. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    29. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra & Mehmet Genc, 2008. "Transforming disadvantages into advantages: developing-country MNEs in the least developed countries," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(6), pages 957-979, September.
    30. Olken, Benjamin A., 2009. "Corruption perceptions vs. corruption reality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(7-8), pages 950-964, August.
    31. Fisman, Raymond & Khanna, Tarun, 2004. "Facilitating Development: The Role of Business Groups," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 609-628, April.
    32. Bengt Holmstrom, 1979. "Moral Hazard and Observability," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 74-91, Spring.
    33. Joseph L C Cheng & Witold J Henisz & Kendall Roth & Anand Swaminathan, 2009. "From the Editors: Advancing interdisciplinary research in the field of international business: Prospects, issues and challenges," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(7), pages 1070-1074, September.
    34. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra, 2006. "Who cares about corruption?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 807-822, November.
    35. Rajeev Goel & Daniel Rich, 1989. "On the economic incentives for taking bribes," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 269-275, June.
    36. Judge, William Q. & McNatt, D. Brian & Xu, Weichu, 2011. "The antecedents and effects of national corruption: A meta-analysis," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 93-103, January.
    37. Vito Tanzi, 1998. "Corruption Around the World: Causes, Consequences, Scope, and Cures," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 45(4), pages 559-594, December.
    38. Francesca Recanatini, 2011. "Anti-Corruption Authorities: An Effective Tool to Curb Corruption?," Chapters, in: Susan Rose-Ackerman & Tina Søreide (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption, Volume Two, chapter 19, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    39. Fisman, Raymond & Svensson, Jakob, 2007. "Are corruption and taxation really harmful to growth? Firm level evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 63-75, May.
    40. Jean-Paul Roy & Christine Oliver, 2009. "International joint venture partner selection: The role of the host-country legal environment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(5), pages 779-801, June.
    41. Luo, Yadong & Han, Binjie, 2009. "Graft and business in emerging economies: An ecological perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 225-237, July.
    42. Van Rijckeghem, Caroline & Weder, Beatrice, 2001. "Bureaucratic corruption and the rate of temptation: do wages in the civil service affect corruption, and by how much?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 307-331, August.
    43. Javorcik, Beata S. & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2009. "Corruption and cross-border investment in emerging markets: Firm-level evidence," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 605-624, June.
    44. Ades, Alberto & Di Tella, Rafael, 1997. "National Champions and Corruption: Some Unpleasant Interventionist Arithmetic," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(443), pages 1023-1042, July.
    45. Ross, Stephen A, 1973. "The Economic Theory of Agency: The Principal's Problem," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 134-139, May.
    46. Yadong Luo, 2006. "Political behavior, social responsibility, and perceived corruption: a structuration perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 747-766, November.
    47. Mr. Vito Tanzi, 1994. "Corruption, Governmental Activities, and Markets," IMF Working Papers 1994/099, International Monetary Fund.
    48. Mehmet Bac, 2001. "Corruption, Connections and Transparency: Does a Better Screen Imply a Better Scene?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 107(1), pages 87-96, April.
    49. Rugman, Alan M. & Brewer, Thomas L. (ed.), 2001. "The Oxford Handbook of International Business," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199241828.
    50. Mohsin Habib & Leon Zurawicki, 2002. "Corruption and Foreign Direct Investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(2), pages 291-307, June.
    51. Lui, Francis T, 1985. "An Equilibrium Queuing Model of Bribery," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(4), pages 760-781, August.
    52. Mauro, Paolo, 1998. "Corruption and the composition of government expenditure," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 263-279, June.
    53. Charles JP Chen & Yuan Ding & Chansog (Francis) Kim, 2010. "High-level politically connected firms, corruption, and analyst forecast accuracy around the world," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(9), pages 1505-1524, December.
    54. James R. Hines, Jr., 1995. "Forbidden Payment: Foreign Bribery and American Business After 1977," NBER Working Papers 5266, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    55. Johann Graf Lambsdorff, 2006. "Causes and Consequences of Corruption: What Do We Know from a Cross-Section of Countries?," Chapters, in: Susan Rose-Ackerman (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    56. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra, 2008. "The effectiveness of laws against bribery abroad," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(4), pages 634-651, June.
    57. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra & Andrew Inkpen & Aldo Musacchio & Kannan Ramaswamy, 2014. "Governments as owners: State-owned multinational companies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(8), pages 919-942, October.
    58. Olson, Mancur, 1993. "Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(3), pages 567-576, September.
    59. Paolo Mauro, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712.
    60. Bac, Mehmet, 1996. "Corruption, Supervision, and the Structure of Hierarchies," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 277-298, October.
    61. Mr. Vito Tanzi, 1998. "Corruption Around the World: Causes, Consequences, Scope, and Cures," IMF Working Papers 1998/063, International Monetary Fund.
    62. Raymond Fisman, 2001. "Estimating the Value of Political Connections," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1095-1102, September.
    63. Besley, Timothy & McLaren, John, 1993. "Taxes and Bribery: The Role of Wage Incentives," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 103(416), pages 119-141, January.
    64. Ajit Mishra, 2006. "Corruption, Hierarchies and Bureaucratic Structure," Chapters, in: Susan Rose-Ackerman (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    65. Johann Lambsdorff, 2003. "How corruption affects persistent capital flows," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 229-243, November.
    66. Christopher J. Robertson & Andrew Watson, 2004. "Corruption and change: the impact of foreign direct investment," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 385-396, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Romero-Martínez, Ana M. & García-Muiña, Fernando E., 2021. "Digitalization level, corruptive practices, and location choice in the hotel industry," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 176-185.
    2. repec:pdn:wpaper:79 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. repec:pdn:wpaper:70 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Kouznetsov, Alex & Kim, Sarah & Wright, Chris, 2019. "An audit of received international business corruption literature for logic, consistency, completeness of coverage," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(4).
    5. Krisztina Kis-Katos & Günther G. Schulze, 2013. "Corruption in Southeast Asia: a survey of recent research," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 27(1), pages 79-109, May.
    6. Eugen Dimant & Guglielmo Tosato, 2018. "Causes And Effects Of Corruption: What Has Past Decade'S Empirical Research Taught Us? A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 335-356, April.
    7. Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro & Dieleman, Marleen & Hirsch, Paul & Rodrigues, Suzana B. & Zyglidopoulos, Stelios, 2021. "Multinationals’ misbehavior," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(5).
    8. Jensen, Nathan M & Rahman, Aminur, 2011. "The silence of corruption : identifying underreporting of business corruption through randomized response techniques," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5696, The World Bank.
    9. Ferris, Stephen P. & Hanousek, Jan & Tresl, Jiri, 2021. "Corporate profitability and the global persistence of corruption," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    10. Petrou, Andreas P. & Thanos, Ioannis C., 2014. "The “grabbing hand” or the “helping hand” view of corruption: Evidence from bank foreign market entries," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 444-454.
    11. Yi, Jingtao & Teng, Da & Meng, Shuang, 2018. "Foreign ownership and bribery: Agency and institutional perspectives," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 34-45.
    12. Gossel, Sean Joss, 2018. "FDI, democracy and corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 647-662.
    13. Mai Chi Vu, 2021. "Tensions and Struggles in Tackling Bribery at the Firm Level: Perspectives from Buddhist-Enacted Organizational Leaders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 517-537, January.
    14. Wu, Tao & Delios, Andrew & Chen, Zhaowei & Wang, Xin, 2023. "Rethinking corruption in international business: An empirical review," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(2).
    15. Hanousek, Jan & Shamshur, Anastasiya & Tresl, Jiri, 2019. "Firm efficiency, foreign ownership and CEO gender in corrupt environments," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 344-360.
    16. Jan Hanousek & Anastasiya Shamshur & Jan Svejnar & Jiri Tresl, 2021. "Corruption level and uncertainty, FDI and domestic investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(9), pages 1750-1774, December.
    17. Du, Qingjie & Heo, Yuna, 2022. "Political corruption, Dodd–Frank whistleblowing, and corporate investment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    18. Kodila Tedika, Oasis, 2012. "Consequences De La Corruption : Panorama Empirique [Consequences of Corruption : Empirical survey]," MPRA Paper 41482, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Godinez, Jose R. & Liu, Ling, 2015. "Corruption distance and FDI flows into Latin America," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 33-42.
    20. Li, Weijia & Roland, Gérard & Xie, Yang, 2020. "Erosion of state power, corruption control, and political stability," BOFIT Discussion Papers 5/2020, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:51:y:2016:i:1:p:35-49. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620401/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.