Legal Studies and Business Ethics Papers
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
10-2009
Publication Source
Journal of Business Ethics
Volume
88
Issue
Supplement 4
Start Page
805
Last Page
813
DOI
10.1007/s10551-009-0320-9
Abstract
Corruption presents an assurance problem to businesses: all businesses are best off if none act corruptly but in the event that corruption occurs are better off if they act corruptly than if they do not, and because there is no assurance that other actors are not cheating a business does not know how to act. The usual solution to an assurance problem – criminal sanctions imposed on cheaters – does not work in a corrupt system. Integrative Social Contract Theory suggests a solution to the assurance problem. Application of Integrative Social Contract Theory to corruption demonstrates that in the case of corruption it has advantages over international law, and that the theory’s elegance lies in its recognition of norms generated by multiple communities.
Copyright/Permission Statement
This is a pre-publication version. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0320-9.
Keywords
corruption, Integrative Social Contract Theory, international law, microsocial contracts
Recommended Citation
Nichols, P. M. (2009). Multiple Communities and Controlling Corruption. Journal of Business Ethics, 88 (Supplement 4), 805-813. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0320-9
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Date Posted: 20 June 2018
This document has been peer reviewed.