Business, ethnography and the global economic crisis: Paradigm power in the African “corruption” debate

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to problematise the concept of corruption as it is used in the African context by exposing the weaknesses in the business model used to define corruption and resource the massive yet incompetent anti‐corruption effort. The paper then aims to follow this critique by considering an alternative way of dealing with the awesome dimensions of African corruption.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper utilises in‐depth secondary source analysis, applying critical theory.

Findings

Corruption's main interpretive framework, neo‐liberalism, is exposed as dominating, business‐centric and non‐utilitarian. A new paradigm with a strong ethnographic texture is presented.

Originality/value

The paper for the first time co‐analyses two contending paradigms for the construction of African corruption in the context of the global economic crisis.

Citation

De Maria, W. (2009), "Business, ethnography and the global economic crisis: Paradigm power in the African “corruption” debate", Critical Perspectives on International Business, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 263-284. https://doi.org/10.1108/17422040911003024