The structural aspect of organizational misconduct in purpose-driven companies was explored by analyzing the 2022 SOMPO Japan insurance fraud scandal. Using an integrated analytical framework grounded in decoupling institutional, institutional logic, and audit society theories, we established a three-tiered structure comprising "ritualized adoption of purpose," "competing logics of profitability and ethics," and "formalized perfunctory compliance." We qualitatively analyzed the third-party committee report to explore how the rhetorical embrace of intentionally masked internally inconsistent pressures due to financial demands and, consequently, made wrongdoing ordinary. The results suggest that short-term performance-driven management systems can crowd out other values, including those that are sustainability- oriented, and an over-reliance on formal governance mechanisms prevents surfacing and deterring misconduct. Herein, the structure of a chain in which the discrepancy between ideals and practices serves to undermine moral fidelity is revealed. Purpose-related incentives should be linked to bonus and executive-compensation systems, cross-departmental consistency should be built in, and compliance reforms should be strong. Our study reveals that the governance of purpose risks enabling unethical conduct where there are structural inconsistencies, highlighting the need for genuine corporate purpose to be embedded into organizational practices and systems.
一 倉持 (Wed,) studied this question.