Preventing Corporate Crime from Within: Compliance Management, Whistleblowing and Internal Monitoring

Abstract

To reduce and prevent corporate crime and wrongdoing requires more than punishment of corporations and corporate executives. True change requires transformations within such corporations. This paper discusses three options to induce such corporate transformations: corporate compliance management mechanisms, whistleblower protection rules, and independent internal monitoring. The paper concludes that the existing empirical evidence shows doubt whether these systems actually can be effective in reducing corporate crime and wrongdoing. It concludes that the available studies show that these systems are more likely to be effective exactly where it is least needed, namely when there is leadership commitment to compliance, when there is successful external oversight and when there is a compliance culture. The paper concludes with critical thoughts about what this means for existing legislation stimulating these systems, for regulators and compliance officers, as well as for research in this area. Here it argues that internal compliance management must become much more based on behavioral insights from the social and behavioral sciences, and that the scientific community must do a greater effort to provide such support to public and private practitioners.

Keywords: compliance, compliance management, whistle blowers, monitors, regulation, regulatory law enforcement, self-regulation

JEL Classification: K20, K23, K42, M14