The Discursive Construction of Corruption Risk

Increasing attention is being paid to the shadow cast by corruption in the private sector, due in part to the efforts of a global anti-corruption regime. The discourse of this anti-corruption regime has been critically analyzed, but we still know relatively little about how the concept of anti-corruption risk is constructed. This article contributes to filling this gap by examining how accountants construct the concept of anti-corruption risk in their discourse aimed at private sector audiences. The findings show how their discourse exposes a central tension in the anti-corruption regime between corruption prevention and detection. Implications for discursive perspectives on (anti-)corruption are discussed.