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Corruption is widely considered as one of the primary bounds on economic growth. As a result, eradicating corruption takes top priority in development policy. Sadly, most anti-corruption efforts fail. In this policy brief, we explain why an overt focus on eradicating corruption is misguided. We address two problems. Firstly, there is insufficient proof that eradicating corruption is a necessity to kickstart or promote rapid economic growth, in contrast to a dominant view in development circles. An overt focus on combating corruption risks wasting funds in development policy. Secondly, most anti-corruption efforts in development fail because they treat the symptom instead of the root causes. Anti-corruption efforts can be improved by working much more holistically in development policy.

Our goal with this policy brief is to encourage those working in economic development to rethink their approach to anti-corruption. By highlighting relevant insights from the academic literature which have largely remained unrecognised in development policy, and adding concrete policy recommendations, we hope to spur change in the primacy which is often granted to anti-corruption efforts.

Corruption is commonly seen as a primary impediment to economic development, and its eradication has therefore featured high on development agendas. Most anti-corruption efforts in international development however fail. This paper aims to review recent attempts to unpack the “black box” of corruption to better understand its functioning in developing countries and find ways to combat corruption effectively.

The study has been undertaken through a comparative literature and case analysis of some of the primary findings within the field of anti-corruption in international development of the past decade.

The research finds that the black-and-white conceptualisation of corruption as an impediment to economic development, which is dominant in development circles, commonly fails to understand corruption as an alternative form of problem-solving in specific institutional settings. This has both hindered anti-corruption efforts and given unwarranted primacy to anti-corruption efforts in international development, to the loss of other priorities.

Policy-makers need to accept that there are no “magic bullets” against corruption and work in a much more contextual manner, while accepting the fact that corruption might not be the primary impediment to economic growth in their country.

The paper strengthens recent calls for a more contextualized approach to combat corruption, which have been given insufficient attention in policy design and most of the literature on corruption, providing a novel starting point for “functional”, politically-aware anti-corruption and development efforts.

The purpose of this paper is to propose the organizational knowledge effects of organization routine breach response.

The paper reviews the routines and knowledge management literatures and applies them to the concept of organizational routine breach.

It is found that three types of organizational routine breach response affect the explicit and tacit knowledge contained within routines differently. These differences can influence organizational performance in positive and negative ways.

Future research can be based on an enhanced understanding of the knowledge effects stemming from breaches in organizational routines.

Managers can use an enhanced understanding of the knowledge effects of organizational routine breach to increase their ability to manage organizational routines and the knowledge contained in them.

This paper links the organizational routines literature with the knowledge management literature to identify the effects of various responses to organization routine breach on organizational knowledge. This integration enables researchers and managers to better understand the implications of routine breach on organizational knowledge and performance.