Studying corporate misconduct requires understanding how individuals coordinate in illegal activities while maintaining secrecy. Drawing on social network theory and analysis, we develop a systematic framework to explain how social relationships and their structures, as well as individuals’ cognitive perceptions of those structures, affect how individuals engage in collective corporate corruption. We distinguish four levels of analysis—topological, relational, individual, and cognitive—and offer arguments and propositions at each level. Using this framework, we integrate and categorize past research at the intersection of social networks and misconduct. A recurring theme in our analysis is the important role of trust among corrupt organizational members. Finally, we discuss how embracing a network lens to study misconduct can not only address unanswered questions, but also stimulate new areas of research.

研究企业不当行为需要了解个人如何在保密的同时协调非法活动。利用社交网络理论和分析，我们开发了一个系统框架来解释社会关系及其结构，以及个人对这些结构的认知感知如何影响个人参与集体企业腐败的方式。我们区分了四个分析层次——拓扑、关系、个体和认知——并在每个层次上提供论证和命题。使用这个框架，我们对过去关于社交网络和不当行为交叉点的研究进行了整合和分类。我们分析中反复出现的一个主题是腐败组织成员之间信任的重要作用。最后，我们讨论了如何利用网络视角来研究不当行为，不仅可以解决悬而未决的问题，而且可以激发新的研究领域。