Combatting corruption through collective action : circumstances that make a company take part in collective action agreements
Master thesis
Permanent lenke
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2453982Utgivelsesdato
2017Metadata
Vis full innførselSamlinger
Sammendrag
Many international firms and local companies are operating in markets that are exposed to
corruption. Corruption increases the cost of doing business and has harmful consequences on
the society. Multinational corporations publish compliance and anti-corruption declaration on
their home pages, where they claim they resist demands for bribes. Firms can go beyond legal
compliance and corporations can take a more active role in the prevention of corruption. This
thesis studies collective action as an anti-corruption tool and identifies circumstances where it
is more likely that a company will be part of collective action agreements.
We find that a deterioration in the business environment works as a trigger for companies to
join collective action. Further, we find that a facilitator has a positive influence and that
multinational enterprises are more active in initiating collective actions than smaller
companies. To find these circumstances, we use literature on collective action, theories and
research on cartels and Hirschman’s exit, voice and loyalty framework to develop hypotheses.
We then compare these hypotheses to cases where collective action is used to fight corruption.
Our findings highlight that companies need a long-term perspective, not just in words and
good intentions but in evaluations that lead to bonus payments. A further implication of our
study is that the companies’ moral responsibility exceeds the legal responsibility. It is
important that MNEs are made aware of collective action as a tool that can be used against
corruption. Our findings indicate that facilitators can have an important role in initiating
collective action in industries with small companies.