Understanding corporate scandals: a conceptual model and the corporate governance involvement

Abstract

This chapter presents a conceptual model for identifying and understanding corporate scandals from a governance perspective. A mixed-method literature review was conducted to gather necessary constructs and concepts. More than 1,141 relevant documents were researched in Scopus. The conceptual model distinguishes between transgressions and scandals, emphasizing the importance of intentionality, attributes, aftermaths, and the media framing process. Three essential elements for a corporate scandal were proposed: transgression, significant aftermath, and publicity. The chapter's limitations include using a single database and focusing on the corporate field, leaving out government scandals. This chapter provides valuable originality by distinguishing corporate transgressions from scandals, identifying corporate scandals, and defining many terminologies, concepts, and theorizations that had to be developed to have a universal language that could support the construction of all this reasoning.