Williams, C.C. orcid.org/0000-0002-3610-1933 and Kedir, A. orcid.org/0000-0002-0728-8807 (2016) The impacts of corruption on firm performance: some lessons from 40 African countries. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 21 (4). 1650022. ISSN 1084-9467
Abstract
The current evidence-base regarding the impacts of corruption on firm performance is based largely on studies of individual countries and contains mixed results. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to achieve a better insight into this relationship by reporting the results of a firm-level analysis of the impacts of corruption on firm performance using World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data across 40 African countries. The clear result is that corruption significantly enhances rather than harms annual sales, employment and productivity growth rates. The outcome is to re-theorize participation in acts of corruption as beneficial for the individual firms engaged in such activity, while recognizing the wider evidence that this is not an optimal strategy at the aggregate country level. The outcome will be to advance knowledge about how corruption needs to be tackled. To eliminate corruption, it is shown here to be necessary for public authorities to recognize that corruption is an efficient strategy at the firm level and to adopt measures to alter the cost/benefit ratio confronting individual enterprises, and at the same time, to address the country-level formal institutional deficiencies that characterize many developing countries and result in the prevalence of corruption.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 World Scientific Publishing. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in the Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship . Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; corruption; bribery; firm performance; institutional theory; development economics; Africa |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 20 Apr 2017 12:14 |
Last Modified: | 01 Dec 2017 01:38 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1142/S1084946716500229 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | World Scientific Publishing |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1142/S1084946716500229 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:115244 |