Creating value by corporate anti-corruption models: An empirical analysis in the Italian scenario

This paper aims to identify the main issues and drivers of sustainable corporate gov- ernance to prevent corruption and increase companies' profitability by drafting cor- porate organizational models, highlighting exploratory evidence from the corporate sample. This document is based on two phases. First, the analysis aims to understand any link between adopting an organization, management, and control model accord- ing to Legislative Decree 8 June 2001, no.—231 and company performance. The sur- vey concerned a sample of companies operating in the construction sector. We have therefore tried to demonstrate whether the companies in possession of the so-called “231 model” present higher profitability than the same companies in the industry, which, on the contrary, have decided not to adopt this model. Second, the content analysis research method is applied to the corporate organizational models that have adhered to drafting the documents on the sample of companies. It was investigated whether companies operating in the construction sector, which adopt an organiza- tional model, have higher performances than companies which do not adopt an orga- nizational model in line with the Italian Legislative Decree 231 and whether there is a correlation between the adoption of a“complete” organizational model in line with Italian Legislative Decree 231 and company performance. This paper proposes the analysis of the sustainable compliance models of Italian companies to prevent corrup- tion and profitability in their corporate governance and the path for future research on the topic.