---
title: "Conflict of interest"
chunk: 5/10
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_of_interest"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:27:55.281412+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

An organizational conflict of interest (OCI) may exist in the same way as described above, for instance where a corporation provides two types of service to the government and these services conflict (e.g.: manufacturing parts and then participating in a selection committee comparing parts manufacturers). Corporations may develop simple or complex systems to mitigate the risk or perceived risk of a conflict of interest. These risks can be evaluated by a government agency (for example, in a U.S. Government RFP) to determine whether the risks create a substantial advantage to the organization in question over its competition, or will decrease the overall competitiveness of the bidding process.

== Types ==
The following are the most common forms of conflicts of interests:

Self-dealing, in which an official who controls an organization causes it to enter into a transaction with the official, or with another organization that benefits the official only. The official is on both sides of the "deal."
Outside employment, in which the interests of one job conflict with another.
Nepotism, in which a spouse, child, or other close relative is employed (or applies for employment) by an individual, or where goods or services are purchased from a relative or from a firm controlled by a relative. To avoid nepotism in hiring, many employment applications ask if the applicant is related to a current employee of the company. This allows recusal if the employed relative has a role in the hiring process. If this is the case, the relative could then be recused from any hiring decisions.
Gifts from friends who also do business with the person receiving the gifts or from individuals or corporations who do business with the organization in which the gift recipient is employed. Such gifts may include non-tangible things of value such as transportation and lodging.
Pump and dump, in which a stockbroker who owns a security artificially inflates the price by "upgrading" it or spreading rumors, sells the security and adds a short position, then "downgrades" the security or spreads negative rumors to push the price down.
Other improper acts that are sometimes classified as conflicts of interest may have a better classification. For example, accepting bribes can be classified as corruption, the use of government or corporate property or assets for personal use is fraud, and unauthorized distribution of confidential information is a security breach. For these improper acts, there is no inherent conflict.
 COI is sometimes termed competition of interest rather than "conflict", emphasizing a connotation of the natural competition between valid interests—rather than the classical definition of conflict, which would include by definition including a victim and unfair aggression. Nevertheless, this denotation of conflict of interest is not generally seen.

== Examples ==

=== Academic and professional standards ===

Many professions are governed by standards of impartiality, including law, public administration, social work, and academia. Obligations of academic disclosure of may be covered in style guides addressing professional ethics.

=== Charity trustees ===
Trustees are required to identify and manage any conflicts of interest which might impact on their decision-making. In England and Wales, the Charity Commission notes that trustees must avoid allowing conflicts of interest to influence their decisions or even to "seem to" influence them.

=== Consulting firms ===
When working for governments, consulting firms face potential conflicts of interest. We can identify four of them: personal connections and interests, working with conflicting clients and assignments, providing for-profit advice, and using personal connections within government to influence decisions.

=== Environmental hazards and human health ===
Nena Baker summarized 176 studies of the potential impact of Bisphenol A on human health as follows:

Lawrence Lessig noted that this does not mean that the funding source influenced the results. However, it does raise questions about the validity of the industry-funded studies specifically, because the researchers conducting those studies have a conflict of interest; they are subject at minimum to a natural human inclination to please the people who paid for their work. Lessig provided a similar summary of 326 studies of the potential harm from cell phone usage with results that were similar but not as stark.