Cultures and Corruption

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nBased on Hooker arguments in Chapter 7, corruption can be defined as any system, which weakens a cultural process. In addition, the perspectives on corruption are dependent on the cultural orientation (Trevino & Nelson, 2010). A wide range of businesses is conducted across the globe, but it is unclear which business deals engage in corruption and those that do not. In most cases, corruption is recognized through actions such as nepotism, cronyism and bribery. Most notably, these practices can be applied legally in appropriate cultural setting (Trevino & Nelson, 2010). According to Hooker, the Western culture view relationship-based activities, as fundamentally undesirable and corrupt, but in other parts of the world, this type of business is important since it sustain trust in the business.

nFurthermore, in most parts of the globe, cronyism forms the basis for trust. For instance, a businessperson is more willing to do business with his/her friends since they have more trust. Most importantly, cronies are less likely to engage in corrupt deals because they intend to maintain a strong relationship with their business partners. At this point, cronyism provides a perfect opportunity to do business efficiently (Trevino & Nelson, 2010). However, cronyism only turns to be corrupt when a firm offer special treatment to friends since they are just associates, instead of considering their ability to provide quality and right products.

nMost importantly, there are many differences in terms of cultural orientation. For instance, most Western cultures are founded on the basis of transparency and rules. However, the rest of the culture is formed based on relationships. Consequently, businesses in Western countries have more trust on institutions that are based on rules. On the other hand, other parts of the world trust family and friends because they are more interested in building robust relationships. For instance, in Japan, businesspersons are interested to build relationships with people in order to strengthen friendship (Trevino & Nelson, 2010). However, in the US, businesspersons are more likely to work with institutions. In other words, levels of corruption depend on the cultural orientation.

nWilliamsons arguments about “opportunism with guile” are consistent with Hookers perspectives because the level of opportunism depends on the opportunists culture (Trevino & Nelson, 2010). Therefore, businesspersons are likely to engage in corruption when there is an opportunity to do so. In addition, their actions reflect their personal interests.

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nTrevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2010). Managing business ethics. John Wiley & Sons.