Extending the process model of collective corruption

Organizational wrongdoing consists of behavior perpetrated by organizational officials (i.e., directors, managers, and/or employees) in the course of fulfilling their organizational roles that is judged by social control agents (i.e., prosecutors, regulatory agency officials, judges, journalists, etc.) to be illegal, unethical, or socially irresponsible. Collective organizational wrongdoing involves the sustained coordination of multiple organizational participants. We review the dominant explanation of collective organizational wrongdoing, delve into its two main variants, and provide illustrations of each. We then provide an overview of an alternative explanation of collective wrongdoing, the process model of collective corruption. This sets the stage for our main contribution-a five part extension of the process model of collective corruption. Our investigation proceeds through a series of analyses, each of which begins with an elaboration of existing ideas about collective organizational wrongdoing, proceeds to an extension of these ideas, and concludes with an illustration of the extension. Our illustrations are drawn from case studies that include thick descriptions of organizational wrongdoing, which provide detailed information about the actions, thoughts, and emotions of wrongdoers as they become involved in wrongdoing. We conclude by considering the theoretical and policy implications of the alternative perspective on collective wrongdoing.