Private military and security companies, corporate structure, and levels of violence in Iraq

Private military and security companies and human rights abuses: The impact of CEOs’ military background

“…Related empirical research that explores the PMSC-civilian casualties link shows that company culture, ownership, and the role of program managers serving as points of contact between PMSCs and clients help explain variation in civilian violence. Studying Iraqi governorates, Tkach (2020a) demonstrates that PMSCs with closed ownership exacerbate information asymmetries, thereby reducing the client's ability to select companies based on information about performance. This creates an advantage for companies that increase violence yet do not suffer reputational costs from lower levels of transparency, resulting in more civilian violence.…”

“…Lastly, the impact of the CEO's background should have a varying effect on the company's connection to the frequency of human rights abuses depending on the opportunity structure that limits or empowers what the CEOs can do. Of importance is the company's corporate status and the extent to which it subcontracts services as past research shows that both explain differences in PMSCs' contract fulfillment and human rights abuses (Akcinaroglu and Radziszewski, 2020;Tkach, 2020a). Private companies are accountable to a lower number of shareholders and are less scrutinized by the media for their connection to scandals (Eden, 2010), which could make it easier to recover from contract mismanagement and human rights violations.…”

“…My research contributes to the literature on PMSCs' accountability by examining the overlooked aspect of the companies' leadership, the CEOs' background, and its impact on companies' ethical behavior in conflicts. Presently, empirical studies consider the companies' structure and its effect on commitment to human rights, anti-fraud practices, or the reduction of civilian casualties (Akcinaroglu and Radziszewski, 2020;Tkach, 2020a;Tkach, 2020b). Another work examines the impact of program managers who facilitated PMSCs' activities on the level of civilian casualties (Tkach, 2020b), while the most recent empirical study analyzes the role of clients' normative considerations and PMSCs' connection to civilian victimization (Penel and Petersohn, 2022).…”