The social importance of corruption and its complex nature have led management scholars to study the phenomenon. However, they have largely ignored the research conducted by anthropologists on the matter. The aim of this paper is to provide a critical review of the anthropological literature on corruption in relation to the management science research. Anthropology offers valuable insights into the understanding of the study of corruption. The field provides new perspectives particularly in relation to the definition of the concept, the morality of corruption, the processual approach, the methods of inquiry, and the holistic perspective. First, anthropologists stress the importance of using a definition of the social actors rather than a universal definition. For anthropologists, corruption is what the locals name “corruption”. Second, considering the native perspective, anthropologists reject a moralistic view of corruption. They present the cohesive influence of corruption. Third, anthropologists see corruption as a process and not as a static phenomenon. Fourth, this demand for a historical account of corruption has led academics to use ethnography as a method of inquiry, a method known in management but not particularly used to study corruption. An interesting perspective of anthropology is to use corruption as a single point of entry to the whole culture. Corruption should not be used for itself, but for the understanding that it provides about the complete culture. Two main lessons can be learned from this field, facilitating a sounder and more in-depth understanding of corruption. The first is that corruption cannot be dealt with solely through economic and legalistic approaches, both of which imply a high degree of deductive analysis. These approaches use a macro-theoretical framework to understand a phenomenon that has become famous for its resiliency in time and space. Hence, anthropologists advocate the need to study micro-level processes, actions, and ideas to add a different, and previously neglected, component to the true understanding of the phenomenon. Second, the holistic approach to the study of corruption may offer a distinct contribution, particularly in the field of management. Anthropological work has proven that approaches focusing on public corruption, or on the political implications of corruption, have to deal with other aspects that are inextricable, such as forms of social exchange, different moral claims, and private sector transactions. Management research can gain important insights from the results of ethnographic investigations that support the idea that the great diversity in the practices of corruption worldwide is imbued with the particular cultural and social implications of this phenomenon. The holistic approach can suggest ways to interpret these practices that cannot simply be reduced to infringements of the law or anti-market practices, but have their own rationales and produce perceived benefits that are not easily quantifiable in mere economic terms
