Corporate Anti-Corruption Policies in Context: Evidence from Swiss Firms

Over the past decades, private firms have increasingly been recognised as key actors in preventing corruption, complementing public-sector regulation through the adoption of internal anti-corruption policies and compliance programmes. These policies range from formal compliance instruments to broader organisational and cultural measures. However, despite the growing prominence of corporate anti-corruption frameworks in international policy agendas, empirical evidence on how such policies are designed, combined, and implemented across different organisational contexts remains limited. This paper contributes to current debates on conceptual and measurement innovations in anti-corruption research by analysing anti-corruption policies adopted by Swiss companies and by examining how these policies differ according to firm characteristics and contextual peculiarities. The study builds on data from a unique survey of 500 Swiss multinationals conducted in 2024 across different economic sectors. Drawing on previous research and systematic evidence on anti-corruption reforms, the paper adopts a multidimensional categorisation of anti-corruption policies, distinguishing between: (1) organisational and integrity-based measures (e.g. codes of conduct, internal policies, transparency, ethics training); (2) control and monitoring mechanisms (e.g. audits, internal controls, employee screening, reporting procedures); and (3) technical or security-oriented measures (e.g. access restrictions, IT security systems). This framework enables more fine-grained measurement of anti-corruption interventions beyond aggregate or compliance-focused indicators. The data analysis is still ongoing, but we expect that larger firms and firms operating in the financial sector will rely more strongly on formalised control and monitoring mechanisms, reflecting higher regulatory pressure and greater organisational complexity. Second, we expect that smaller firms will place relatively greater emphasis on organisational and integrity-based measures, such as informal control, trust-based governance, and clarity of roles and responsibilities. Third, we expect that anti-corruption strategies combining organisational and control-based measures will be more effective in mitigating corruption risks than isolated or purely technical interventions. By explicitly accounting for contextual factors such as firm size and sector, and crisis management, this paper highlights key methodological challenges in evaluating anti-corruption policies, including attribution and heterogeneity of effects across organisational settings.