Within the research, several definitions of corruption are identified, in which the concept of corruption is formulated quite differently. Corruption is often associated with state institutions and their entities, on the one hand, and entrepreneurs, on the other. However in practice, it has been observed that in most cases corruption is related to violations of written and/or unwritten laws for the purpose of gaining benefits that cannot be legally obtained. Therefore, within the theme of the research, corruption is interpreted as follows: Corruption is a set of purposefully selected, mutually compatible and complementary, often non-regulatory measures that are implemented with the aim of creating an exceptional situation for achieving one’s goals. Corruption subjects are individuals in society who engage in corrupt transactions in their own personal interest or that of an organisation for the purpose of achieving benefits from the corrupt transaction. By its very nature, corruption has always been related to competition among different competitors. Nowadays, corruption and its measures have become much more sophisticated and diversified, ranging from petty corruption to large-scale, even global corruption, known as grand corruption. The results of the research demonstrate that corruption is a relatively topical issue in Latvia. According to the Transparency International study, the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2018 is 58 points, which places Latvia in 41st place among 180 countries included in the study. Thus, corruption in Latvia is on a par with countries such as Georgia and Spain. However, Latvia’s neighbour Estonia ranks 18th with 73 points, while Lithuania ranks 38th. Construction is one of those sectors of the national economy where corrupt transactions are relatively widespread and remain at a relatively high level for several years. Corruption is most widespread in public procurement related to the procurement of various state-relevant construction products. Companies operating in the construction industry engage in corrupt transactions, mainly to find themselves in an exceptional position among competitors who compete with each other for the production of a construction product. Causes of the spread of corruption and its persistence in the construction sector can be divided into several groups: social, technical, economic and governance causes. The results of the research have demonstrated that corruption in Latvia is an integral part of external entrepreneurship. Among the causes of corruption mentioned above, the social causes of governance are the most important ones. Using logical approaches and induction methods, it has been found that construction companies benefit from engaging in corruption – the potential benefit in many cases is greater compared to the potential loss in case of corruption detection. It means that the Latvian rules and regulations are sufficiently liberal in relation to the threat of corruption. As a result, construction companies interested in corruption are able to negotiate mutually beneficial agreements with relevant officials in public institutions, which allow them to acquire the right to execute public contracts in the construction industry without competition. Moreover, public contracts involved in corrupt transactions are often generously repaid. The second major group of causes of corruption is the greed and low level of legal awareness of construction companies, as well as the legislators’ low level of competence in regard to the causes of corruption.