Developing the Process Model of Collective Corruption

Abstract

There are two explanations of organizational crime. The dominant one assumes that people make discrete decisions and develop positive dispositions to engage in crime before embarking on criminal behavior. An emerging alternative assumes that people often embark on criminal behavior through a process and without first developing positive dispositions. The authors review the dominant explanation of organizational crime, delve into its two main variants, and provide examples of each. They also review the emerging alternative explanation and outline a variant of this approach that analyzes collective corruption, a form of crime that involves the sustained coordination of multiple organizational participants. Then they propose five ways to extend this model of collective corruption and illustrate their extension by drawing on a detailed account of an illegal stock market transaction taken from Den of Thieves, by James Stewart. The authors conclude by considering the theoretical and policy implications of the alternative perspective.