This paper contributes to the development of conceptual work on collective corruption in the private sector. Based on a routines-as-practice perspective, we conceptualize collective corruption as routines which are established patterns of organizational actions that are made up of rules as their basic building blocks, the interpretation of these rules in the context of an organizational framework and the actual observable performance patterns. Drawing on 24 interviews with representatives of law enforcement authorities, auditing and law firms, non-profit organizations and anti-corruption units in the public sector, we provide a framework that combines theoretical reasoning with qualitative data analysis in order to describe the dynamics of corrupt routines. Our results disclose their main characteristics and highlight how the specificity of rules, lack of control, the power to influence subjective understandings and actions as well as group processes influence the relations between rules, their interpretation and performances and, thus, give rise to corrupt routines.
