Wheras corruption literature generally has been dominated by strictural-funcyional approaches viewing corruption in terms of ‘objective’ conditions, this study sees corruption as being socially constructed and subject to a discursive contest between what should be seen as appropriate versus inappropriate business behaviour. The objective is to investigate how organisational members perceive and make sense of gift bribing in organisations and how sensemaking reflects a social, discursive process of negotiating the border between the two, i.e. when is it appropriate to give or receive a gift, what type or amount is permissible, what sort of reciprosities are expected in return, etc. a sensemaking perspective is important as it takes into consideration the complex social psychological processes that are involved when individuals try to distinguish between gifts and bribes.