Unethical behavior, such as corruption and fraud, is a massive problem in today’s business world. Research in the fields of business ethics and moral psychology has presented compelling evidence of a series of behavioral concepts that might influence an individual’s propensity to engage in unethical conduct. Yet, it is still unknown how these concepts apply to more ecologically valid contexts such as real-world scandals on unethical behavior. Motivated by this, we use empirical qualitative evidence from one of Denmark’s largest corruption scandals to explore how well renowned concepts within business ethics and moral psychology hold up in the real world, when looking into both what causes unethical behavior and how it could be minimized. We find evidence that catalysts of immoral conduct in the case company are well supported by some of the most well-researched concepts in the research area, and our research indicates a possible real-world interaction between concepts.

Elbæk, C. T., & Mitkidis, P. (Accepteret/In press). Evidence of Ethics and Misconduct in a Multinational Corporation: Motives for Growth of Corrupt Environments in Today’s Business World. International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics.