International Journal of Social Economics

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe corruption, fraud and cybercrime as dehumanizing phenomena.

Design/methodology/approach – Berdiaeff's notion of slavery and Sartre's concepts of lie and bad faith are used in order to put light on the dehumanizing effects of corruption, fraud and cybercrime over social life itself.

Findings – Corruption, fraud and cybercrime constitute dehumanizing processes insofar as they undermine mutual trust among people. When they arise in the organizational setting, corruption and fraud (committed through cyberspace or any other means) are institutionalizing suspicion and creating a deep loss of mutual trust and confidence within the organization. Human relationships within a corrupt and fraudulent organization are harder to develop than in a workplace characterized by honesty and integrity.

Research limitations/implications – The paper is focusing on Berdiaeff's notion of slavery and Sartrian concepts of lie and bad faith. It does not reflect all aspects of dehumanizing phenomena such as corruption, fraud and cybercrime.

Practical implications – The analysis reveals the way in which Sartrian concepts of lie and bad faith could be applied to the behavior of corrupt and fraudulent people as well as cybercriminals.

Social implications – Owing to the transnational nature of both corruption, fraud and cybercrime, such phenomena negatively affect the potentialities to develop a cross-cultural and interreligious dialogue on the international scene.

Originality/value – The originality of the paper is that it reveals that the way an organization could fight corruption, fraud and cybercrime could be determined by its propensity to tolerate lies and bad faith in its organizational culture.