Strategies for Rationalizing Corruption in Organizations: an analysis of declarations of accused in cases of corruption in Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: de Freitas Júnior, Luiz Romeu
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Rodrigues de Oliveira Medeiros, Cintia
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Ciências da Administração
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/adm/article/view/2175-8077.2018v20n50p8

Corruption scandals involving the different spheres of public power, as well as private power, have become commonplace in the media. In addition to the political and socioeconomic impacts of corruption, a relevant issue for studies on the subject concerns its rationalization. In this research, our objective is to explore the justifications for participation in corruption schemes presented by denounced individuals as a way of rationalizing their involvement. To do this, we conducted a qualitative research based on intrepretativism, analyzing the content of ten interviews granted by those involved in corruption scandals in Brazil, from 2013 to 2016. The analysis pointed out a certain similarity in the discourse used by the participants, allowing the verification of categories (negation of responsibility, denial of harm, social considerations, denial of act, metaphor of balance and cynical stance). The results point out that from a questioning, each one of the involved exposes their version of the fact creating common points in their speeches, that seem to arise as a result of the interactions and social articulations that involve them, contributing to a scenario favorable to the perpetuation of corruption organizations. The theoretical contribution of this research to organizational studies is to understand the rationalization of individuals for the perpetuation of a phenomenon not uncommon in organizations, but still little explored.