A comprehensive overview of the causes, processes and consequences of wrongdoing and misconduct across all levels of an organization.

Organizational Wrongdoing is an essential companion to understanding the causes, processes and consequences of misconduct at work. With contributions from some of the world's leading management theorists, past theories on misconduct are critically evaluated, and the latest research is introduced, expanding the boundaries of our knowledge and filling in gaps highlighted in previous studies. A wide range of unethical, socially irresponsible, and illegal behaviors are discussed, including cheating, hyper-competitive employee actions, and financial fraud. Further multiple levels of analysis are considered, ranging from individual to organization-wide processes. By providing a contemporary overview of wrongdoing and misconduct, this book provides solid and accessible foundations for established researchers and advanced students in the fields of behavioral ethics and organizational behavior.

Instances of wrongdoing in and by organizations have featured heavily in news headlines in recent years. Why do organizational participants—employees, managers, senior officials—engage in illegal, unethical, and socially irresponsible behavior? The dominant view of wrongdoing as an abnormal phenomenon assumes that the perpetrator is a rational, proactive actor, working in isolation. However, Palmer develops an alternative approach in this book, examining wrongdoing as a normal occurrence, produced by boundedly rational actors whose behaviour is shaped by the immediate social context over a period of time. The book provides a comprehensive critical review of the theory and research on organizational wrongdoing. By using rich case study material, it illuminates different perspectives, potential explanations, and policy suggestions for the reduction of organizational wrongdoing.

The book provides an analysis of organizational wrongdoing explaining why individuals and groups behave unethically or illegally, using a range of different theories and case studies

Organizational Wrongdoing as the “Foundational” Grand Challenge: Definitions and Antecedents consolidates and extends knowledge on the subject of organizational wrongdoing and highlights potential directions for future research.

In the fight against organizational malpractice and organized crime, both international guidelines and national regulations have become stricter. Nevertheless, the results seem not to reach the expected change. Corruption scandals involving large companies, political parties, sports organizations, hospitals, etc. have not come to an end. In order to explain the collective illegality within and through organizations of different sectors and embedded in different cultures, this conference proceedings gathers articles about corporate and organized crime by international renowned scientists and experts. The focus is on similarities and differences in current corruption cases and other forms of crime as well as questions about conventional and alternative prevention measures.

In Normalized Financial Wrongdoing, Harland Prechel examines how social structural arrangements that extended corporate property rights and increased managerial control opened the door for misconduct and, ultimately, the 2008 financial crisis. Beginning his analysis with the financialization of the home-mortgage market in the 1930s, Prechel shows how pervasive these arrangements had become by the end of the century, when the bank and energy sectors developed political strategies to participate in financial markets. His account adopts a multilevel approach that considers the political and legal landscapes in which corporations are embedded to answer two questions: how did banks and financial firms transition from being providers of capital to financial market actors? Second, how did new organizational structures cause market participants to engage in high-risk activities? After careful historical analysis, Prechel examines how organizational and political-legal arrangements contribute to current record-high income and wealth inequality, and considers societal preconditions for change.