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Due to the mixed evidence regarding politically connected (PCON) firms and voluntary disclosure, the authors seek to investigate the direction of the association between Brazilian PCON firms and their level of information disclosed in the fight against corruption. This study is conducted in a developing country with a weak judicial system where board members or directors with political connections can operate without any oversights.

The authors empirically test our hypothesis that voluntary anti-corruption disclosure is negatively associated with political connections. Content analysis, Wilcoxon Rank and Pearson Correlation were employed in a sample of 30 companies that belong to sectors with the highest risk of corruption, between 2014 and 2016, the period of Brazilian elections. A sample of 90 observations is used with data collected from annual reports of companies listed on the São Paulo Stock Exchange in Brazil.

The study’s results indicate a positive and significant association between the level of voluntary anti-corruption disclosure and corporate political connection, confirming our second hypothesis. PCON firms could seek to improve their legitimacy after recent corporate corruption scandals discovered in Brazil where government members participated in the schemes of bribe and money laundering and embezzlement. Although our sample is composed of firms in industries of high corruption risk, which could increase bias, the results improve the literature with empirical contribution that has given little attention to the issue.

The latest corruption scandals in Brazil showed that companies were involved with government officials, corruption is one of the country's biggest issues for diverting public resources to basic needs such as education and health. The relationship between political connections and voluntary disclosure is an open empirical question, particularly dealing with anti-corruption. The study’s findings bring light on the subject, which deserves greater attention not only from researchers but from the society that is most affected by corruption.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how individuals seek to reduce the occurrence of unethical requests at work and the effects of such strategies.

The authors built a grounded theory through semi-structured interviews with 65 individuals who worked for companies involved in the Brazilian corruption scandal called Operation Car Wash.

The interviewees reported that they use two central strategies to avoid unethical requests: explicit moral communication (directly stating that they are not willing to adhere to an unethical request) and implicit communication (expressing such a refusal through moral symbols). Both strategies signal the morality of the communicator and lead the possible proponent of an unethical request to perceive a greater probability of being reported and, thus, avoid making such an unethical request. However, while explicit moral communication affects the perceived morality of the individual who would possibly make an unethical request, implicit (symbolic) moral communication does not. As a consequence, the risks of retaliation for making a moral communication are greater in the case of explicit moral communication, entailing that implicit moral communication is more effective and safer for the individual who wants to avoid unethical requests.

This paper broadens the literature on business ethics and moral psychology by shifting its focus from what organizations and leaders can do to prevent unethical behavior to what leaders can actively do to protect themselves from unethical requests.

Brazil and Chile have nearly similar recent political histories. Emerging from protracted military dictatorships at roughly the same time, both developed presidential and representative democratic processes, though with contrasting individual national emphases. Military dictatorships in both countries originated in anti-corruption rationales, among others, and both have emphasized anti-corruption practices since regime changes. Brazil impeached two presidents, ostensibly for corrupt practices. Yet, Chile has managed a corruption level, according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, that is among the lowest in Latin America, while Brazil’s is among the highest. This study compares and contrasts the two nations’ experiences with a view to uncover key causal, or at least explanatory, variables in this striking contrast in levels of perceived corruption.

The second decade of the twenty-first century finds Brazil racked by a series of scandals that are extreme even by world standards. This chapter presents an explanation for one of the behaviors that have produced these scandals. Specifically, it is the offering of bribes to public officials by individuals or companies that stand to benefit from contracts to perform public services and, furthermore, the paying of kickbacks to the officials if the contract is awarded. I liken this behavior to the making of vows to the saints in the “popular” or “folk” form of Catholicism – and other popular religions that accept its basic premises – and the fulfillment of the promise if and when the otherworldly being provides what the petitioner requested. Part 1 of the chapter examines an election for mayor of the city of Fortaleza in 2012 in which the office was “bought” for what seemed to be an exorbitant amount of money. I hypothesize that this is to be explained by the anticipation of the city receiving government contracts to build a soccer stadium, a rail system, and other projects related to the 2014 World Cup. In Part 2, I examine Brazil’s religions beginning with popular Catholicism, to show that the normative way of gaining something desired from a supernatural – be it the restoration of health or the recovery of a lost item – is to offer it something it values and then fulfilling the promise if and when the petitioner receives what was requested. I contend that this important religious pattern continues to provide the template for the secular behavior that is being judged to be corrupt by standards other than those found in the religiously based worldview of many Brazilians.

To consider transnational aspects linked to the social production of adoptable children in a Brazilian setting.

Looks at legislation and media reports, giving particular attention to how, during the 1990s, vigorous campaigns in favor of plenary adoption by Brazilian nationals implied the near‐total silencing of alternative forms of childcare such as foster care, and how recent circumstances are reversing this trend.

Argues that an apparently straightforward conflict between poverty‐stricken families and the state authorities that strip them of parental rights is in fact a highly political issue involving innumerous overseas as well as national influences. National childcare policies that encourage certain childcare options and eliminate others emerge as much from scandals in the media, “consumer demands” by adoptive parents, and philanthropic support as from the more apparent global trends in child welfare legislation.

The findings challenge the view that childcare is a consensual issue with all fronts working for the “child's best interest”. Rather, in this paper, the issue is revealed as a political matter of conflicting interests between unequal categories of caretakers.

This paper has direct relevance for international legislation on child adoption policy.

This paper furnishes a “view from below” on international adoption, putting in question principles that are normally accepted as obvious in international legislation on child rights.

This paper aims to provide an overview of key points pertaining to financial crimes taking place during the single largest fraud scandal in Brazilian history. The authors provide details on how the historic fraud was carried out at Petrobras, as well as an overview of recent anti-money laundering regulation in Brazil.

The paper is based on an analysis of the scandal and on legal ramifications enacted by the prevailing Public Ministry taking place through the “Lava Jato” operation.

Fraud perpetrators continue to find new ways to move laundered money into campaign finance. The authors provide details on how the scheme was perpetrated at the placement, layering and integration stages.

This study comprehends the first stage of the Federal Police’s operation, comprising 14 allegations of financial crimes.

A disconnect between regulations in effect and the reality of money laundering in Brazil over several years has failed to impede numerous cases of fraud. However, changes in legislation have allowed state agents to discover cases of fraud, with more and more wrongdoings being investigated.

The Petrobras fraud, individual experiences of organized financial crime and a widespread lack of understanding of how to detect and prevent fraud on this scale.

The research question is how home country corruption and nationalism may affect operations of BRIC multinational enterprises. BRIC composition permits a comparison of two authoritarian regimes and two constitutional democracies. Each BRIC features a different combination of corruption and nationalism. The chapter adds South Africa information for two limited reasons. First, from 2010 South Africa is a member of the BRIC summit process. South Africa is an important entry point to Africa, for BRIC multinationals and particularly for China. Second, concerning corruption and nationalism South Africa is analytically useful as a control context that helps illustrate but does not appear to change highly exploratory BRIC findings.

The chapter draws on limited literature and information concerning corruption and nationalism in BRICs to suggest tentative possibilities. Transparency International provides bribe payers index estimates for 28 large economies, with important multinational enterprises, and corruption perceptions index estimates including those 28 countries. These estimates include the four BRICs and South Africa. The available sources suggest some suggested findings about varying impacts of home country corruption and nationalism on operations of BRIC multinationals.

China and Russia are authoritarian regimes in transition from central planning-oriented communist regimes. They are global military powers, expanding influence in their respective regions. Brazil, India, and South Africa are constitutional democracies. India, a nuclear-armed military power, seeks a regional leadership role in South Asia. Brazil and South Africa are key countries economically in their regions. BRIC multinationals are positioned between home country and host country conditions. Chinese and Russian multinationals may reflect a stronger nationalistic tendency due to home country regimes and ownership structure.

The chapter is an original but highly exploratory inquiry into impacts of corruption and nationalism on BRIC multinationals. Extant BRIC literature tends to understudy effects of home country corruption and nationalism on managerial mindset and incentives in either commercial or state-owned enterprises.

This paper aims to highlight the relationship between money laundering and the patterns of behaviour evident throughout the larger structural environment of the Swiss banking sector. In particular, the paper used HSBC as a prototype case of structural ritualisation to show that the normalisation of corrupt, unethical behaviour in the banking environment has shaped and influenced the behaviour and actions of the embedded group actors.

The paper used a content analysis methodological approach of media sources to collect data. The content analysis was categorised into six core ritualised symbolic practices (RSP) categories – corruption, reputation, blame, ignorance, regret and criticism.

The findings reveal that the highly ranked RSPs involving corruption, reputation, blame, regret, ignorance and criticism influence the embedded group’s patterns of behaviour, and they formed part of the cognitive script that dictated their behaviour and actions in the Swiss banking sector.

The paper added to the calls by Swiss policymakers for amendments to Swiss bank secrecy laws to reflect the changing landscape of international banking and finance.

This is the first paper of its kind to study ritualised illegal practices related to money laundering in the Swiss banking sector.