Enduring unethical behavior in trading has generated much research interest, and scholars disagree on the reasons for this situation. According to MacIntyre (2015), this has to do with the personal traits of traders, whereas Rocchi and Thunder (2019) argue this is due to permissive work environment that can potentially be changed to favoring ethical trading. We contribute to this debate by exploring how interactions between organizational culture and management control systems (MCSs) may affect the enduring unethical behaviors of traders. We conceptualize this with the concepts of organized hypocrisy (Brunsson 1986, 1989, 1993) and decoupling (Meyer and Rowan 1977). An in-depth case study of fraud (Jerome Kerviel at Societe Generale), informs the empirical inquiry. We develop the concept of organized decoupling to characterize how the MCSs are articulated with the organizational culture favoring unethical behavior, while being used as a ‘safety mechanism’ to manage the legal and reputational risk of the bank. The analysis highlights three key features of the organized decoupling of MCS: physical distance, technical distance and social distance. The study contribution lies in showing that decoupling is not only emergent but might be intended and therefore organized. The findings also raise doubts on the role of MCSs in monitoring trading activities as presented by investment banking institutions and regulators, suggesting more organized hypocrisy, and raising significant concerns regarding the creation of tolerable work environment welcoming ethical behaviors in the investment banking sector.

在交易中持久的不道德行为引起了很多研究兴趣，学者们对这种情况的原因存在分歧。根据 MacIntyre (2015) 的说法，这与交易者的个人特征有关，而 Rocchi 和 Thunder (2019) 认为这是由于宽松的工作环境可能会改变为有利于道德交易。我们通过探索组织文化和管理控制系统 (MCS) 之间的相互作用如何影响交易者持久的不道德行为来为这场辩论做出贡献。我们用有组织的虚伪（Brunsson 1986, 1989, 1993）和脱钩（Meyer and Rowan 1977）的概念将其概念化。欺诈的深入案例研究（法国兴业银行的 Jerome Kerviel）为实证调查提供了信息。我们开发了有组织的脱钩概念，以描述 MCS 如何与支持不道德行为的组织文化联系起来，同时被用作管理银行法律和声誉风险的“安全机制”。分析强调了 MCS 有组织的脱钩的三个关键特征：物理距离、技术距离和社交距离。研究贡献在于表明脱钩不仅是紧急的，而且可能是有意的，因此是有组织的。调查结果还引发了对投资银行机构和监管机构提出的 MCS 在监控交易活动中的作用的怀疑，表明更有组织的虚伪，并引发了对创造可容忍的工作环境的重大担忧，该环境欢迎投资银行业的道德行为。