ABSTRACT
Of all the issues faced by society, one could argue that corruption is one of the most significant in terms of its potential negative impact on society, while remaining one of the most difficult for society to properly address. While many tend to associate corruption with bribery, many other activities have also been defined as acts of corruption, including: receiving and giving gifts and entertainment; kickbacks; extortion; nepotism; favoritism; abuse of power; misappropriation of public funds; illegal political party and electoral campaign funding; money laundering; improper use of insider information; use of intermediaries; conflicts of interest; facilitating payments; or even tipping (see Argandoña, 2005). If one accepts corruption as relating essentially to “dishonesty for personal gain” (Encarta, 2009), other criminal or unethical acts would be included as well (e.g., fraud or aggressive accounting). Unfortunately, one doesn’t have to look very far over recent years to see significant examples of crime and corruption within or on behalf of business organizations and the negative impact such scandals have had on investors, employees, customers, and society in general (e.g., Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Hollinger, Livent Inc., Parmalat, Siemens, Madoff Investments, etc.).
