Career development of managers after a cartel prosecution by the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) is examined. A representative function is used as an indicator for career outcome after prosecution. The career development of Dutch managers involved in a cartel and a control group of Dutch managers of non-cartel involved companies is compared. The different factors that may influence the career development of cartel involved managers are analyzed.

This paper concludes that cartel involved managers face negative career effects after the prosecution of the cartel. A cartel involved manager has lower probability of a representative function than another manager. This negative career effect is smaller if the cartel was active in the construction sector. This might point at a different culture towards cartels in the construction sector in the Netherlands which seems plausible considering the wide ranging cartel in this sector between 1998 and 2001.