Publications

2022
Chapter

Corporate Misconduct’s Relevance to Society through Everyday Misconduct

By: Eugene Soltes

Terms like "corporate misconduct" and "white-collar crime" typically bring to mind major scandals like Enron or Bernie Madoff. This popular perception overlooks another important—and in fact much more typical—type of deviance: "everyday misconduct." Everyday misconduct... View Details

Keywords: Research; Crime and Corruption; Society

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

Today, corporate accountability is as vital to the bottom line as an effective business model. Value Shift makes a strong case for the merits of corporate responsibility and shows how a value-positive orientation contributes to superior performance through... View Details

05 May 2016
News

Fumigating the Criminal Bug: New Research on the Insulation of Volkswagen’s Middle Management

April 2018
Case

Globalizing Japan's Dream Machine: Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

Recruit Holdings, an advertising media, staffing, and business support conglomerate was founded in 1960 by Hiromasa Ezoe. Recruit was built on the principle that the company should add value to society. To do this, it hired young and talented employees and created a... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Crime and Corruption; Transition; Globalization; Japan

March 2020 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Political Legitimacy and Global Capital Markets: Malaysia's 1MDB (A)

By: Meg Rithmire and Courtney Han

In May 2018, Malaysia’s 14th General Election saw a change of power that many thought they would never witness in their lifetimes. The political party that had ruled Malaysia for 60 year was kicked out of office by a 92 year-old challenger, Mahathir Mohamed, who had... View Details

Keywords: Government Administration; Crime and Corruption; Financial Markets; Malaysia

19 Jan 2016
First Look

January 19, 2016

are less risk averse, or even risk-seeking, in order to improve performance. However, individuals amenable to increased risk-taking may be more likely to engage in misconduct. To study this issue, we explore U.S. political scandals and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2020 (Revised December 2020)
Case

AfricInvest: A Pan-African Investment Platform

By: Victoria Ivashina and Youssef Abdel Aal

The case is set in December 2018, when Ziad Oueslati, co-managing director and co-founder of AfricInvest, a leading pan-African private equity firm headquartered in Tunisia, was reflecting on the future direction of his firm. AfricInvest started as a traditional small... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Strategy; Governance; Financial Services Industry; Tunisia; Africa; Middle East

2015
Article

Approach, Ability, Aftermath: A Psychological Framework of Unethical Behavior at Work

By: C. Moore and F. Gino

Many of the scandalous organizational practices that have come to light in the last decade—rigging LIBOR, misselling payment protection insurance, rampant Wall Street insider trading, large-scale bribery of foreign officials, and the packaging and sale of toxic... View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Ethics; Decision Making

Find at Harvard

Read Now

18 Jun 2019
News

How to Scandal-Proof Your Company

February 2019
Article

Bounded Ethicality and Ethical Fading in Negotiations: Understanding Unintended Unethical Behavior

By: McKenzie Rees, Ann E. Tenbrunsel and Max Bazerman

The business scandals in the past several decades led to the rising importance of ethics as a topic central to management scholarship. Behavioral scientists in particular were attracted to the topic in far greater numbers, and the study of ethical decision-making... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Behavior; Negotiation; Situation or Environment; Perception

Find at Harvard

2010
Chapter

The Many Faces of Nonprofit Accountability

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

Calls for greater accountability are not new. Leaders of organizations, be they nonprofit, business, or government, face a constant stream of demands from various constituents demanding accountable behavior. But what does it mean to be accountable? By and large,... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Corporate Accountability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Taxation; Leadership; Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Behavior; Trust

Research Summary

Dissertation: Speaking Up on Boards

My dissertation examines individual and group behavior in corporate boards of directors. I focus on individual traits and group traits that can foster or inhibit the act of speaking up when an individuals views go against the general consensus in the room. Research and... View Details

31 Oct 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 31, 2017

forthcoming Journal of Political Economy The Market for Financial Adviser Misconduct By: Egan, Mark, Gregor Matvos, and Amit Seru Abstract—We construct a novel database containing the universe of financial advisers in the United States from 2005 to 2015, representing... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

2010
Working Paper

The Many Faces of Nonprofit Accountability

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

What does it mean for a nonprofit organization to be accountable? Nonprofit leaders tend to pay attention to accountability once a problem of trust arises—a scandal in the sector or in their own organization, questions from citizens or donors who want to know if their... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Performance Evaluation; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Strategy

Read Now

Trust is the most powerful force underlying the success of every business. Yet it can be shattered in an instant, with a devastating impact on a company’s market cap and reputation. How to build and sustain trust requires fresh insight into why customers, employees,... View Details

05 Mar 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Board of Directors’ Responsiveness to Shareholders: Evidence from Shareholder Proposals

Keywords: by Yonca Ertimur, Fabrizio Ferri & Stephen R. Stubben

Research Summary

Financial Markets and Corporate Governance

By: Dwight B. Crane

Corporate scandals beginning in the late 1990s focused renewed attention on corporate governance, but significant cracks in the governance system also contributed to recent problems. Deregulation and growth of financial markets, as well as changes in the competitive... View Details

June 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Wemade: (Re)Establishing Trust in Blockchain Games (A)

By: Jung Koo Kang, Charles C.Y. Wang, David Allen and Kwangmoon So

This case explores the fundamental challenges and accounting issues arising from the integration of blockchain technology into traditional business models. It features Wemade, a South Korean online gaming company that has staked its future on blockchain-based games.... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Cryptocurrency; Video Games; Accounting; Financial Reporting; Revenue Recognition; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Corporate Disclosure; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Accounting Industry; Information Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; South Korea