“…There is an ongoing debate in the International Business (IB) literature about whether it is profitable for MNCs to engage in corrupt activities abroad (Cuervo-Cazurra, 2006; Cuervo-Cazurra & Genc, 2008; Khatri, Tsang, & Begley, 2006). On one hand, it is costly and carries the risk of penalties and reputational damage (David-Barrett, Yakis-Douglas, Moss-Cowan, & Nguyen, 2017), but on the other, payments to or connections with politicians could result in organizational benefits (Claessens, Feijen, & Laeven, 2008; Faccio, 2006) and not “playing the game” can put an MNC at a disadvantage when competitors do not follow such restrictions (Spencer & Gomez, 2011).…”