Strong by concealment? How secrecy, trust, and social embeddedness facilitate corporate crime

J D Jaspers

doi:10.1007/s10611-019-09847-4

Abstract

This article examines how corporate crime is organised through studying the longevity of illegal business cartels. Previous studies demonstrate cartels can remain undetected for years or decades. Similar to criminal networks, cartel participants need to communicate in order to collaborate effectively, but operate covertly at the same time. The case study analysis of fourteen Dutch cartel cases in this study demonstrates two main findings. First, cartel participants communicate frequently and elaborately, and the need for trust and communication impedes concealment. Second, the longevity of cartels cannot be explained by isolation from but by embeddedness in their social environment. The context of legitimacy and a facilitating environment are significant factors. Criminal collaboration is studied extensively in literature on organised crime, however gained little attention in the literature on corporate crime. Hereby, this study contributes to an understanding of how corporate criminal conduct is organised, by applying relevant theory on criminal networks gleaned from the literature on organised crime.

Highlights

Criminal acts committed through collaboration between criminal partners require concealment and communication
There are obvious differences between business cartels and other forms of organised crime, such as the use of violence, this paper argues that it is fruitful to apply insights on criminal cooperation, gained in studies on organised criminal networks, to business cartels
Derived from the literature on illegal and criminal networks, three main theoretical expectations are investigated in relation to cartel conduct and presented : (1) exchange of information in cartels is not as centralised and hierarchically organised as in the classic image of the ‘secret society’; (2) trust enables cooperation in cartels, and participants build this trust through elaborate communication or by using trust-substitutes; (3) it is not the isolation of cartels from their social environment but social embeddedness that provides an explanation for their longevity

Summary

Introduction

Criminal acts committed through collaboration between criminal partners require concealment and communication. Communication is essential in organising crime: namely, making arrangements regarding the required resources, contacts and transport; settling disputes; and dividing criminal profits [1]. The balance between operational efficiency through communication and secrecy through concealment is a widely known trade-off for participants of any covert network. The paradox of concealment and communication is a focal point in the study of illegal and criminal networks [2,3,4]. Concealment and communication are often presented as opposites, operating as communicating vessels [5,6,7].

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Conclusion