La corruzione negli studi di matrice economico-aziendale: un’analisi strutturata della letteratura dal 1990 ad oggi

The objective of this work is to offer an examination of economic-business studies on the topic of corruption from 1990 to today. This research connects the “fluid” topic of corruption, which still today does not find a univocal definition in the literature, and a discipline, business economics, whose different “souls” find space in various disciplinary sectors. In order to include the different aspects of business economics, that of management, organization and accounting, all the peer-reviewed scientific articles published in international and national journals were analysed, falling into the following categories: accounting, international business, economics, general management and public accounting. The research method used is that of the structured analysis of academic literature, identified through the use of strings of keywords. A qualitative coding scheme was implemented to provide descriptive statistics. In particular, for the selection of journals, the ABS Guide, Academic Journal Guide published by the Association of Business Schools, was adopted. Overall, 498 articles were analysed, subdivided as follows: 358 articles published in the thirty-year period 1990-2020, 134 articles published in the three-year period 2021-2023 and 6 articles published in national journals. The results highlight that, contrary to what happened in the past, when the topic of corruption found space almost exclusively in “accounting” and “public sector accounting” journals, today these represent the minority (10% the first and 16% the second ones); while the number of “general management” (27%), “economics” (24%) and “international business” (23%) journals that publish articles on the topic have increased. The study offers a detailed mapping of the literature on corruption conducted by scholars over the last 33 years through a cluster analysis which highlights, in addition to the type of articles and research methodologies adopted, also the themes addressed. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the thematic areas investigated by scholars and the areas that remain unexplored, consequently suggesting future lines of research. Furthermore, the study offers interesting insights regarding the business economics tools useful for preventing and fighting corruption.