Do Cheaters Every Prosper? Illicit Competitive Intelligence and Organizational Performance

This paper examines the effects of private information misappropriated through illicit competitive intelligence on organizational performance. We employed data from the unique case of the Houston Astros cheating scandal in Major League Baseball to shed light on this otherwise difficult-to-observe phenomenon. Contrary to our initial proposition, we found no evidence that the Houston Astros derived performance advantages from the illicit competitive intelligence that the team collected and used. We then examined conditions under which this practice may have disproportionately helped the Astros’ performance, and again found no supporting evidence. We conclude with potential explanations for why the Astros may not have derived performance advantages from its illicit competitive intelligence practice and discuss implications for organizations broadly and for future research concerning illicit competitive intelligence.