Corruption in international business: A review and research agenda

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2019.101660Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Literature review (137 articles) between 1992–2019 on corruption in international business.

  • Seven research streams: (1) legislation (2) determinants (3) combating (4) effect on firms (5) political environment (6) effect on management theories (7) effect on FDI & trade.

  • Synthesizing the antecedents: (1) country factors (2) economic factors (3) cultural factors (4) firm characteristics..

  • Discussing the consequences: (1) effect on firms (2) effect on FDI and trade (3) political links and lobbying (4) anti-corruption laws.

  • Calls on the establishment of anti-corruption architecture, both global and local.

Abstract

We systematically reviewed the literature on corruption in international business (137 articles) for the last 17 years between 1992 and 2019. Additionally, we identified seven research streams in this growing literature: (1) the legislation against corruption, (2) the determinants of corruption, (3) combating corruption, 4) the effect of corruption on firms, (5) the political environment and corruption, (6) corruption as a challenge to existing theories of management, and (7) the effect of corruption on foreign direct investment and trade. Based on this review, we recommend that strong international laws are needed to minimize the negative impact of corruption on international business. Firms must also consider corruption when formulating strategies to increase operational efficiency and performance. Finally, corruption challenges some key assumptions of existing theories of management. Scholars need to test and expand these existing theories by considering corruption as an important issue in international business.

JEL classification

E00
E30
D73
B17
K00
D21

Keywords

Corruption
Bribery
International business
Politics
Bibliometric analysis
Meta-literature review
Firms
Content analysis

Cited by (0)

Salman Bahoo is a joint PhD candidate in Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Udine, Italy and School of Business and Law, University of Agder, Norway. His main research interest includes sovereign wealth funds, political risk, corruption, sovereign credit risk and international business. He is affiliated also with the Islamia University Bahawalpur, Pakistan.

Ilan Alon (PhD, Kent State University) is Professor of Strategy and International Marketing at the School of Business and Law at the University of Agder. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Emerging Markets and the European Journal of International Management. Alon is a researcher in the field of international business with a focus on internationalization, modes of entry, political risk, cultural intelligence and emerging markets. His publications have appeared in journals, such as Harvard Business Review, Management International Review, International Business Review, Journal of International Marketing, and International Marketing Review. His books are published by Palgrave, Routledge, McGraw-Hill and others.

Andrea Paltrinieri is Assistant Professor of Banking and Finance in Department of Economics and Statistics at the University of Udine. He is Associate Editor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management and at Editorial Review board of International Journal of Emerging Markets. His fields of research are in banking and finance area, with a focus on sovereign wealth funds, Islamic finance, emerging markets and commodities. He published in International Journal of Emerging Markets, Research in International Business and Finance, The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Business Ethics: a European Review, The Geneva Papers.