Corporate World According to Prior Research Studies,

¶ … Corporate World

According to prior research studies, plagiarism is not just appearing in the academic environment. Now, plagiarism is being seen in corporate America as a way to "adjust" information that might otherwise seem unfavorable to stakeholders, higher-ups, or others who will be provided information regarding something to do with the company. Financial issues are often a part of the plagiarism issue, but there are other concerns that are not related to the company's finances. No matter what concerns a corporation has, it should be honest about those concerns and not attempt to cover them up with dishonesty of any kind. There are other dishonest practices other than plagiarism that are used in corporations today, but plagiarism is one of the more common problems that is discovered. It appears to be acceptable until it is discovered, and it is important that the researcher examines just how much plagiarism is permeating the corporate world.

Studied here is corporate plagiarism, as well as the reasons behind it and the effects of it that are seen on the various groups of individuals who are related to the company in some way. Employees are the most vulnerable group, but they are not the only ones who can have trouble that is based on corporate dishonesty and plagiarism tactics. People higher up the corporate ladder can be fooled, and customers may also be made to pay the price if the company is found to be dishonest, because it can potentially put a company out of business. Anyone who deals with the company can be part of the group that sees the effects of plagiarism, and the separate groups are discussed and analyzed here, in order to provide more information regarding the issue of plagiarism at a corporate level.

Plagiarism in the Corporate World

Introduction

Problem to be Addressed

The idea of plagiarism is not new, and has been around for centuries. However, it is also a problematic issue because it is technically not a crime. Instead, it is more about the moral concerns that surround it and the damage done to the original author if a person plagiarizes a work. While students are usually the ones guilty of plagiarizing, they are not the only individuals who take others' work and attribute it to themselves instead of being honest about who originally created the material. Companies can also plagiarize, and when this occurs in the business world it can have serious consequences. These consequences are not just felt by the company, but also by those who work with the company on various levels and the families of the employees of that company, who may rely on the income of that employee and feel that the job is safe and secure from a financial standpoint.

By transferring an academic issue over to a corporate issue, the definition of plagiarism is expanded and also becomes more serious, since it can affect other employees, stakeholders, shareholders, the company's bottom line, and anyone who has dealings with that company on any level. The specific problem to be addressed here is plagiarism on the corporate level, as opposed to the academic level, in order to determine whether corporate plagiarism has a negative effect on the business environment and who is most strongly affected by this kind of dishonesty in corporate America. Because there are corporations in the U.S. And in other parts of the world that engage in dishonesty, the public could be at financial risk and not realize the seriousness of the issue.

Purpose of the Research

This research has a single purpose: to bring to light the idea of corporate plagiarism and see who is affected by it. By doing this, it will be easier to understand the seriousness of corporate plagiarism, as well as how much it affects the companies where it occurs and the rest of the "real world" of corporations, stakeholders, employees, customers, and others who are tied to a company in some way. There is not just one group that is affected by corporate or business-world plagiarism, so it is important to take a look at all of the different groups that could be affected and analyze them in order to determine which groups see more effects and which groups are spared most of the problems that come about from any kind of plagiarism and dishonesty at the corporate level.

Research Question

There are many questions that could be asked about plagiarism at a business level, but the researcher specifically wants to know the following:

How does plagiarism in the corporate world affect each of the different segments of the population with which the corporation is involved (i.e. directors, stockholders, shareholders, employees, financial backers, etc.)?

By determining how each one of the groups that are tied to a corporation in some way are affected by plagiarism by that corporation, one can more easily discover the true affects of plagiarism and the far-reaching problems that are seen when dishonesty occurs. While there are many other forms of corporate dishonesty that are not related to plagiarism or that are not specifically tied to plagiarism, corporations must be vigilant regarding many different types of dishonesty. Many corporations think that plagiarism is strictly a problem for the academic sphere, but this is not the case.

By using a broad research question instead of one that is much more narrow, the researcher has the opportunity to learn much more about the overall problem. Because the researcher can find information that addresses various aspects of the problem with which the corporations may struggle, the researcher will not only learn more but also be able to provide readers of the study with insight and information about the problem. This can lead those readers to conduct their own studies and draw their own conclusions.

Review of the Literature

Ideally, everyone in the business world would be honest. Corporate America would have the best interests of the customers and the employees at heart, and everyone would get along and feel safe. Unfortunately, that is really not the case. Most corporations throughout the U.S. - and even throughout the world - have among their ranks some people who are not as honest as everyone else or not as honest as they would like others to believe. Occasionally, management is corrupt overall, although this is less common. When corporations start seeing that there are problems, though, they can turn to various ways of doing things in order to make themselves look good to stakeholders, shareholders, and investors (Haggerty & McKinnon, 2004). If they cannot continue to look appealing, they may end up going out of business because they do not draw in people who want to spend money to help keep them afloat. Without investors and without a good bottom line, a corporation can really struggle (Levisohn, 2008; Aguilera & Vadera, 2008; McKinnon, 2004).

As was evidenced by Enron and other corporations that have been guilty of deceiving the public and their own employees, real problems exist within the corporate world where dishonesty is concerned (Levisohn, 2008; Aguilera & Vadera, 2008). That does not mean that there is no trust at all, or that most corporations are bad, but only that there are difficulties faced by some corporations that are covered up so as not to "make waves" or cause any other kinds of problems. Most of the time, the problems that are covered up are financial (Aguilera & Vadera, 2008; McKinnon, 2004). The company might not be making the kind of money it had hoped to make, but it wants to appear as though it is doing very well in order to bring in more investors and keep growing. Companies that admit to doing poorly often do not attract investors, because people who have money do not want to take a chance on losing that money - so companies have to make themselves look better than they really are in order to have hopes of actually becoming successful.

Unfortunately, many companies are only successful on paper, and that is generally because those companies have worked to make things look better than they are (Levisohn, 2008; McKinnon, 2004). They take the work of others, and information that has been provided to them, and they twist and shape it in such a way that they look good, even though the information might not have been anything that portrayed the company in a positive light (Bailey, 2008). While it is not always easy to take negative information and turn it into something positive, corporations do it when they see that they need to keep going and they are not getting the return on investment that they had hoped to get. They can also do that when there are negative reports about them that are not financial (Bailey, 2008). They walk a fine line between being honest and looking good, and sometimes they cross that line - and get into trouble when they are caught by authorities or whistle blowers.

Corporate ethics are sometimes said to be an oxymoron, but there are many ethical corporations in existence in the United States and throughout the world. Despite the desire of most corporations to avoid doing harm to their shareholders, employees, and customers, there will always be other corporations that are less concerned with that particular area of business ethics (Dewey, 1963; Hoover, 2007). Because that is the case, problems like plagiarism can creep into the "normal" way of running a business. Often, this happens slowly over time. The corporation does not realize that there is a problem at first, and only when something comes to light and is discovered by an authority figure or a whistle blower does the company know that it has to change and do things differently.

Sometimes, company executives are also prosecuted. While they technically cannot be prosecuted for plagiarism, they can be prosecuted for the deceitful, dishonest business practices that stem from that plagiarism. That is especially true if their actions resulted in financial difficulties for others, or if they can be shown to have made choices for the company based on the erroneous information that they were offering up to the public (Kuasek, Brennan, & Browne, 2003). Overall, there are many concerns with companies that plagiarize, and there are several groups that can be at serious risk for financial and other problems if they do not realize the deceit in which the company is engaged.

One of the biggest problems with corporate plagiarism and other ethical concerns is that people who see it taking place in their work environment often do not say anything, mostly because they do not want to lose their job (Kuasek, Brennan, & Browne, 2003). They know that, if they tell, they will be fired - and the company may also simply close up and disappear. That would put many more people out of work, and whistle-blowing is not something that only hurts the whistle blower or the company. It also hurts many other employees and their families, as well as other people who are affiliated with the corporation in various ways (Kuasek, Brennan, & Browne, 2003). Of course, that does not mean that people should not blow the whistle if they see corporate misconduct such as plagiarism. They really should tell the authorities what they see, even if it can be difficult to do, frightening in many ways, and can cause problems for others in the corporation.

Corporate plagiarism is not a term that is often heard, but that does not make it any less serious. It is not as commonly discussed because most people still think of plagiarism as something that is strictly academic (Kolb, 1984; Moberly, 2007). That is not the case, though, and it is important that more corporations start to realize the inherent dangers of plagiarizing in order to make themselves look better or in order to hide any kinds of financial or other problems that they are facing. By recognizing these concerns, companies can be better prepared to handle any questions that come about concerning their accounting practices or other information that they are providing to the public for any purpose. Honesty on the corporate level is highly important, and should be rewarded and encouraged (Kolb, 1984; Moberly, 2007). For many corporations, however, there is not enough encouragement to avoid dishonesty, and it is easy to slip into patterns that are problematic.

Methodology

Research Design

Every research study needs a good design in order to ensure that it is well understood by the reader and that it can be replicated if there are researchers in the future who wish to conduct the same study in order to see if they get the same results. With this study, the design is qualitative in nature and specifically addresses the information that has been collected about corporate ethics and plagiarism in the past, as well as information that will be collected by the researcher through the use of surveying techniques. In other words, the researcher will be collecting new data on his own, but will also be using what was already discovered by others who have looked at the same issue.

Each new study looks at information differently, even when the information provided is the same as the information that was collected by other researchers for their studies. By compiling information from studies in the literature review and other past data, and also surveying individuals who are in the corporate world at the present time, the researcher can collect what he needs and can use that data to create his own analysis of all the information that has already been made accessible and the information that is currently available to him based on the survey answers.

The research design of a study does not have to be complex in order to be helpful to the reader of the study. In some cases, simpler research designs are the best because they are more easily replicated by other researchers and they are more easily understood by those who read the study. When complex designs are used, fewer readers are able to understand the study clearly, and the study is also much harder to replicate if researchers in the future want to take a look at the past study and determine if there were other ways in which it could have (or should have) been conducted.

Sampling Technique and Size

The size of this study will be relatively large, because there is so much information that can be located by the researcher. The literature review and other, similar studies provide a wealth of information that can be used and that will allow the researcher to have a good basis for information that needs to be collected through surveys. The sample size will consist of 100 individuals who are surveyed anonymously in corporate America. For this study, the researcher chose to limit the surveys to people who work in the United States, because of time and other constraints as well as business and cultural differences that may have otherwise come to light and been a barrier to communication.

Because the researcher expects some of the surveys to be unreturned, it is possible that there will not be 100 people from which data will be collected. That has been built into the number of surveys that are being sent out, and a lower number returned is actually expected. This is actually not a problem, because even a small sample size (when coupled with all of the information collected through the literature review and other studies that were done in the past) can be helpful in making a determination as to whether the research question can be answered and whether the information collected can be extrapolated out to the rest of the corporate world in America and across the globe.

Data Collection Methods

The data for this study will be collected in two ways - through the use of information already provided and through the use of a survey that has been created by the researcher and that will be sent out to 100 people who work in corporate America. These individuals will be asked if they want to take the survey. If they do wish to take it, they will be provided with a link where they can go to take the survey, so that their email address or other personal information is not attached to that survey. The goal of the research is not to single out people or companies and get them into trouble ethically or any other way. Instead, the goal of the research is to show that there is a serious problem with plagiarism in corporate society and that problem affects many different kinds of people who work in corporations, as well as the people who are otherwise associated with those companies.