A business code of ethics is widely regarded as an important instrument to curb unethical behavior in the workplace. However, little is empirically known about the factors that determine the impact of a code on unethical behavior. Besides the existence of a code, this study proposes five...

Employee perceptions of an organization's compliance program are critical. A program that has lost legitimacy with its employees is not just ineffective, but creates more harm than good by leading to more unethical behavior. This paper first presents two different, but often working in tandem,...

Empirical evidence demonstrates that America's diverse population holds differing approaches to ethics, compliance, and risk. In-house counsel can harness these differences to assure that a firm's conduct comports with, and acclimates to, the differing ethical and compliance sensibilities and...

This Article builds upon prior works which articulate an objective standard for corporate ethics and compliance that furthers shareholder wealth maximization: A firm should only engage in conduct that acclimates itself as optimally as possible to the full range of its constituencies, including...

The design of an effective legal compliance system for an organization fearing prosecution for white-collar crime or regulatory violations requires skill at predicting human behavior. It is entirely plausible to use the economist's simplifying assumptions of rational choice and pecuniary...

This article considers what policy reforms may help catalyze corporate commitment to combating corruption. The starting point for this discussion is a voluntary, corporate principles approach to self-regulation. Such an approach should seek to encourage corporations to implement effective...

Governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) are critical functions within companies — this much we know. Yet business leaders remain largely unsure of how to manage these functions effectively. The evidence is both anecdotal, as seen by recent corporate scandals, and research-based, as...

In 2019, the CEO and chairperson of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, called for corporate leaders to embrace corporate purpose and create value for stakeholders, and 181 CEOs of the Business Roundtable committed to lead their companies for the benefit of all...