Corporate Governance and the Nature of Sin: Addressing Ethical Failures in High-Risk Sectors

Abstract

This conceptual paper examines how corporate governance frameworks in high-risk sectors—banking, energy (oil and gas), aviation, and mining—interact with persistent ethical failures. Drawing on a systematic review of recent international and Ghanaian literature (2019–2025), it argues that compliance-oriented governance, while necessary, is insufficient to prevent misconduct rooted in deeper moral weaknesses. Integrating agency, stakeholder, stewardship, and moral-hazard theories with a theological understanding of the “nature of sin,” the paper develops a conceptual model linking governance mechanisms, moral weaknesses, ethical failures, and their effects on stakeholder trust and organisational integrity. The analysis highlights how cases such as the Ghana banking crisis and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta expose gaps between formal governance structures and lived ethical practice. The paper concludes with theoretical, managerial, and policy recommendations for embedding moral accountability and ethical culture within governance systems in order to strengthen ethical resilience in high-risk sectors across Ghana and comparable contexts.