Thinking about Bribery

This book explores the offer and acceptance of bribes, as well as the control of bribery, through sciences of the mind.

This book gathers contributions of scholars from a variety of disciplines to explain how and why individuals decide to offer or accept bribes, and how bribery can be effectively combatted. It will be of interest to scholars of business ethics and behavioural sciences, and to those interested in understanding and controlling corruption.Bribery is perhaps the most visible and most frequently studied form of corruption. Very little research, however, examines the individual decision to offer or accept a bribe, or how understanding that decision can help to effectively control bribery. This book brings together research by scholars from a variety of disciplines studying the mind and morality, who use their research to explain how and why decisions regarding participation in bribery are made. It first examines bribery from the perspective of brain structure, then approaches the decision to engage in bribery from a cognitive perspective. It examines the psychological costs imposed on a person who engages in bribery, and studies societal and organizational norms and their impact on bribery. This is an ideal read for scholars and other interested persons studying business ethics, bribery and corruption, corruption control, and the applications of neuroscience in a business environment.