The book (Dis)honesty in Management: Manifestations and Consequences edited by Vissak and Vadi and published by Emerald UK under its Advanced Series in Management Book elucidates the manifestations and ramifications of (dis)honesty. It blends a gamut of different research tools, surveys extant literature, empirically tests various hypotheses by collecting large sample sets of primary data and takes up a few remarkable case studies. Replete with interesting real-life examples and anecdotes from the macro- and micro-economic environments of developed and developing worlds, the book amply demonstrates how it may not always be possible to advocate the pleasant truth and why it may be easier and sometimes necessary to espouse the unpleasant truth or a pleasant lie. The book reiterates that the definition of truth/honesty may itself vary across firms, organisations, countries and cultures. The book brings forth an amalgamation of the work of researchers and authors from all over the globe. The cases discussed in the book highlight the fact that “honesty in management” has a broad connotation. It refers to an ambit where management, psychology, ethics, economics, business and sociology overlap.
While the term “honesty” has often been referred to, it is rare to find its meaning in the literature. In this context, the editors discuss the concepts of (dis)honesty, in general, and its definitions, in particular, in Chapter 1. They lucidly elaborate the finer nuances of (dis)honesty, its manifestations, characteristics, reasons and impact factors. In addition, they highlight that honesty and dishonesty can be inter-related and there can be “grey areas” which lie in between them. Chapter 2 by Kindsiko lays the conceptual and theoretical foundations of dis(honesty) and discusses ethical perspectives of (dis)honesty in organisations.
Dishonesty leads to inter-personal mistrust and a dishonest person is less likely to trust others. Based on data collected from 81 countries, Chapter 3 by Kaasa and Parts empirically finds statistically significant differences in the levels of trust depending on the age, gender, level of education, religious preferences and also whether the person supervises someone or not.
The book is divided into 15 chapters. In these chapters, (dis)honesty is dealt at diverse levels – country, organisational and individual. At the country level, in Chapter 4, Hilmarsson questions whether the Iceland Government's actions were appropriate, and could be termed “honest”, prior to the collapse of Iceland's largest banks during the global economic crisis in 2008.
Entrenched in the theories of tax evasion and drawing from a survey of Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Chapter 5 by Meriküll, Rõõm and Staehr discusses managerial dishonesty as unreported economic activity at the firm level. The violations of law by Estonian firms, in particular, are examined by Lukason in Chapter 6. Yanga and Amoako's survey of managers in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda presented in Chapter 11 brings forth the legitimisation of dishonesty. Select cases of rogue trading which have received large-scale media coverage in recent times are discussed by Kantšukov and Medvedskaja in Chapter 7. Beddewala evaluates honesty of implementing corporate community initiatives in Chapter 12. In Chapter 13, Lam investigates the trust building between American and Chinese business negotiators in collaborative projects. Vissak and Zhang demonstrate in Chapter 14 how dishonesty may benefit the dishonest firm.
(Dis)honesty at the individual level is studied in Chapters 8-10. Jaakson, Masso and Vadi analyse the responses of service employees to explore the drivers of dishonest behaviour of individuals at work in Chapter 8. Another work which examines ethical conflicts at the individual level is by Andolšek, Primožic and Štebe in Chapter 9. Honesty in leadership is discussed by Dvorakova, Bright and Muehlfeit in Chapter 10. The findings of the book along with other literature are summarised by Kindsiko, Vadi and Vissak in Chapter 15.
The book is illustrative and quotes recent global developments which make them rather “easy-to-identify-with”. The book is a must-read for students, particularly, particularly those pursuing management, economics and finance subjects. Besides, researchers, human resource managers and businessmen will find the book interesting and informative.
The book has drawn examples from all parts of the world. The future writers/researchers can take up more similar studies in a variety of cultural settings to enrich the literature on this vital subject of (dis)honesty.
