Preventing corporate crime from within: Compliance management, whistleblowing, and internal monitoring

Reducing and preventing corporate crime and wrongdoing requires more than merely punishing corporations and their executives. True change requires transformations within corporations. This chapter discusses three options to induce corporate transformations: corporate compliance management mechanisms, whistleblower protection rules, and independent internal monitoring. The chapter finds that the existing empirical evidence sheds doubt on whether these systems can effectively reduce corporate crime and wrongdoing. It concludes that, based on existing studies, these systems are more likely to be effective exactly where they are least needed, namely when the corporate leadership is already committed to compliance, when there is already successful external oversight, and when there is already an existing culture of compliance within the corporation. The chapter provides critical thoughts about what this means for legislation stimulating these systems, for regulators and compliance officers, and for future research on corporate compliance.