We define corruption as private individuals or enterprises misusing public resources for private power and/or political gains through the abuse of public officials whose behavior deviates from the formal government rules of conduct, and `ethical behavior' as adhering to a non-corrupt business practice. We conduct a review of the academic literature drawing on perspectives from the political, economic, and anthropological sciences, and we report on the experiences with a Danish program that identifies five different strategies for dealing with corruption: No strategy; withdrawals from markets; decentralized decision-making process; establishment of an anticorruption codex; and mutual commitment through integrity pact. Four aspects of ethical behavior should be regulated through an anticorruption codex: the company vis-à-vis parties; gifts and entertainment expenses; political campaign contributions; and policy against small-scale corruption. We consider directions for future research, for example the role of international organizations and multinational companies vis-à-vis fighting corruption and fostering ethical behavior, the role of countries and their governments, and management systems.

With all the attention they are receiving in almost all parts of society, it would be fair to say that corruption and ethical behavior have become buzzwords du jour. For example, in corporate citizenship, which is increasingly being embraced by companies, the objective is not only to be productive and profitable but also to meet the needs of consumers, to work within the legal framework, to follow socially established moral standards, and to assume voluntary activities aimed at helping other people and contributing to the well-being of the surrounding communities (Carroll 1979, 1998; Laufer 1996; Maignan and Ferrell 1998; Pinkston and Carroll 1994).

Corruption and Ethical Behavior: Experiences from Denmark, corruption, ethical, political, anticorruption, companies, public, citizenship, communities, consumers, contributions, economic, drawing, entertainment, academic, Ferrell, government, international, Maignan, strategies, activities.