Sarpong, David and Adams, Kweku 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3737-954X
(2019)
The Mabey and Johnson bribery Scandal: A Case of Executive Hubris.
Thunderbird International Business Review, 61 (2).
pp. 387-396.
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Abstract
Convicted for paying bribes to secure contracts abroad, Mabey and Johnson (M&J), a UK construction firm,
made both legal and international business history. Drawing on hubris as a lens, we examine M&J’s bribery
scandal in Ghana and Jamaica. Through a qualitative study of court documents, witness statements, newspaper
articles, and internal company emails, we unpack the bribery scheme operated by M&J executives that enabled
the firm to illegitimately win major government contracts in Ghana and Jamaica. Fuelled by executive hubris,
we found M&J’s practice of bribing foreign officials to secure contracts effectively insulated M&J executives
from day-to-day realities. Overtime, the firm’s executives viewed themselves as infallible, exempt from
established mores, invincible, and unremorseful for their actions. Building on these findings; we develop a
hubris-bribery heuristic framework showing how individual, organizational, and institutional context
constitutively fuelled executive hubris to drive bribery at M&J. The implication for theory and practice are
examined.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | "This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Sarpong, David and Adams, Kweku (2018) The Mabey and Johnson bribery Scandal: A Case of Executive Hubris. Thunderbird International Business Review which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/tie.21989 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving." |
| Status: | Published |
| DOI: | 10.1002/tie.21989 |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| School/Department: | York Business School |
| URI: | https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/3060 |
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