Collaboration may encourage corporate corruption

While the benefits of cooperation in human society are clear, new research from The University of Nottingham suggests it also has a dark side - one that encourages corrupt behaviour. "Collaborative settings, not just greed, can provide fertile ground for corruption, as typified by recent scandals in the football and banking worlds. But while much is known about individual immoral behaviour, little is known about the collaborative roots of corruption," explains lead author Dr Ori Weisel from the School of Economics at the University. The study, The Collaborative Roots of Corruption , published in PNAS journal, focused on cases where working together meant violating moral rules, by lying, at a possible cost to the larger group, or the organisation to which they belong. Researchers created a die-rolling game to examine collaborative corruption. Volunteers could adhere to one of two competing moral norms: collaborate or be honest. In the main experiment, the outcomes of the two players are perfectly aligned.