scholarly journals Integrating religiosity into fraud triangle theory: findings on Malaysian police officers

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamaliah Said ◽  
Md. Mahmudul Alam ◽  
Zulyanti Abdul Karim ◽  
Razana Juhaida Johari

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conduct an empirical analysis of the factors that determine the occupational fraud behavior. Design/methodology/approach This study utilizes primary data collected by a questionnaire-based survey on 186 police officials of Malaysia including Sabah and Sarawak. Data are analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and cross-sectional regression. Findings The results derived in the study showed a statistically significant positive relationship between three basic variables of the fraud theory – pressure, opportunity, and rationalization with asset misappropriation. Moreover, this study revealed that religiosity is statistically significantly and negatively correlated to asset misappropriation. Therefore, the higher religiosity of an individual correlates with the lower probability involve in asset misappropriation. Practical implications The findings will help Anti-Corruption Commission, Enforcement Agency of Integrity Commission, Police Department, and relevant agencies from Malaysia and other countries to design policies for reducing cases of fraudulent behavior. Originality/value This study is an original work based on the primary data collection.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamaliah Said ◽  
Md. Mahmudul Alam ◽  
Zulyanti Abdul Karim ◽  
Razana Juhaida Johari

Purpose – This study aims to conduct an empirical analysis of the factors that determine the occupational fraud behaviour.Design/methodology/approach – This study utilizes primary data collected by a questionnaire based survey on 186 police officials of Malaysia including Sabah and Sarawak. Data is analysed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and cross-sectional regression.Findings - The results derived in the study showed a statistically significant positive relationship between three basic variables of the fraud theory – pressure, opportunity, and rationalization with asset misappropriation. Moreover, this study revealed that religiosity is statistically significantly and negatively correlated to asset misappropriation. Therefore, the higher religiosity of an individual correlates with the lower probability involve in asset misappropriation.Practical implications - The findings will help Anti-Corruption Commission, Enforcement Agency of Integrity Commission, Police Department, and relevant agencies from Malaysia and other countries to design policies for reducing cases of fraudulent behaviour.Originality/value – This study is an original work based on the primary data collection.


Author(s):  
Anthony G. Vito ◽  
Elizabeth L. Grossi ◽  
Vanessa Woodward Griffin ◽  
George E. Higgins

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to apply focal concerns theory as a theoretical explanation for police officer decision making during a traffic stop that results in a consent search. The study uses coefficients testing to better examine the issue of racial profiling through the use of a race-specific model. Design/methodology/approach The data for this study come from traffic stops conducted by the Louisville Police Department between January 1 and December 31, 2002. Findings The results show that the three components of focal concerns theory can explain police officer decision making for consent searches. Yet, the components of focal concerns theory play a greater role in stops of Caucasian male drivers. Research limitations/implications The data for this study are cross-sectional and self-reported from police officers. Practical implications This paper shows the utility of applying focal concerns theory as a theoretical explanation for police officer decision making on consent searches and how the effects of focal concerns vary depending on driver race. Social implications The findings based on focal concerns theory can provide an opportunity for police officers or departments to explain what factors impact the decision making during consent searches. Originality/value This is the first study (to the researchers’ knowledge) that examines the racial effects of focal concerns on traffic stop consent searchers using coefficients testing.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ngoc T.B. Le ◽  
Lien T.P. Vu ◽  
Thang V. Nguyen

PurposeDrawing from fraud triangle theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether the use of internal control systems and codes of conduct, as a specific element of internal control, helps firms to reduce law violations and bribery payments to public officials.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on survey data of Vietnamese firms, conducted between September and December 2018. The authors run logistic and ordinary least squares regressions to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe study showed that the use of internal control systems has a negative and significant relationship with law violation but not with bribes paid to public officials. By contrast, the use of codes of conduct appears to reduce bribe payments but not law violations.Research limitations/implicationsCross-sectional data do not allow us to confirm causal relationships. The self-reported measures of the use of codes of conduct and internal control systems may suffer from social desirability biases and should be further validated with different samples of firms. Finally, the relatively modest number of firms that participated in the survey raises a concern of sample representativeness.Practical implicationsFor businesses, the application of codes of conduct and internal control systems enhances the reliability and certainty of the firm's operations as well as its integrity, contributing to the firm's long-term development. For policymakers, encouraging businesses to use internal control systems and codes of conduct would contribute meaningfully to the anti-corruption effort.Originality/valueBusinesses in emerging economies face a dilemma of how to participate in an anti-corruption agenda while staying profitable. This study shows that the use of internal control systems and codes of conduct would serve both purposes, contributing to businesses' sustainable development.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 573-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ach Maulidi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the existing fraud studies and theory (fraud triangle) from bureaucratic crime perspectives. Importantly, this paper answers calls on research, exploring the routines of interaction both micro- and social psychological constructs in studying fraudulent behaviours. These aspects are relatively new, which have a little attention from auditing and fraud literature. Design/methodology/approach Experienced fraud perpetrators were used for this study. A semi-structured interview technique was used, allowing to uncover rich descriptive data on the personal experiences of participants. It allowed them to tell and illustrate why and how they get involved in fraudulent activities. Findings Many explanations, from a wide variety of perspectives, have been advanced to explain why people commit fraud in bureaucracy. Using reciprocity and exchange theory as a basis, it was found strong evidence for expanding fraud triangle theory (Cressey, 1953) as a predictor of individual’s intention to commit white-collar crimes. Evidence of these results provides a new challenge to other accounts of why systemic fraud would or would not occur. In this point, it highlights the concepts of social exchange and the norm of reciprocity serve as a useful beginning for explaining the factors that cause someone to commit occupational fraud. Generally, a number of distinct empirical and theoretical contributions arise from the current study. Originality/value This paper contributes to the enrichment of fraud theory and literature, from psychological perspectives. With regard to the reciprocity between peers within and outside organisation, it offers theoretical frameworks about the reasons for the decisions to commit white-collar crimes. As such, it advances fraud and auditing studies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 891-906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuar Nawawi ◽  
Ahmad Saiful Azlin Puteh Salin

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the weaknesses of internal control in expenditure claim procedure and to identify the opinions of employees regarding an occupational fraud. This study also attempts to examine the most popular occupational fraud committed by the employee and whether a company’s working environment contributed to the fraud. Design/methodology/approach A case study approach was adopted to investigate and analyse the weaknesses of the internal control and occupational fraud incidents. A mixed method of data collection, specifically, survey questionnaire and document analysis were used. Findings This study found that the internal control of the expenditure claim procedure was weak and needed improvement. This study also found that a strong internal control and a better remuneration paid to the employees could reduce the risk of the occupational fraud committed in the company. In terms of fraud types, this study discovered that claims on mileage, followed by petrol, accommodation and suppliers’ invoice were the most popular occupational frauds committed by the employees. Finally, employee dissatisfaction and poor working-environment culture influence occupational fraud’s level in the organizations. Research limitations/implications The results provide further confirmation of the fraud triangle theory on the causes of fraud, i.e. opportunity because of a weak internal control and financial pressure because of low and non-standardized salary. This study, however, was conducted only on one company. Practical implications This study provides some recommendations to overcome the weak internal control and improve employees’ satisfaction which lead to better working environment. Thus, opportunities for fraud in the company can be reduced. Originality/value This study is original, as it focusses specifically on occupational fraud which is rare in fraud literature, particularly for a study that is conducted in developing markets like Malaysia. It also has examined various related sensitive documents and reports of employee frauds that are generally difficult to be accessed by researchers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen K. Nkundabanyanga ◽  
Charles Omagor ◽  
Irene Nalukenge

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the fraud triangle, Machiavellianism, academic misconduct and corporate social responsibility (CSR) proclivity of students. Design/methodology/approach – The present study surveyed 471 university students. The study was cross-sectional and employed structural equation modelling in statistical modelling. Findings – The study provides evidence that perceived opportunity to cheat in examinations is the single most important factor accounting for significant variations in rationalization and academic misconduct. Similarly, low Machiavellians significantly get inclined to CSR ideals. The fraud triangle alone accounts for 36 per cent of the variations in academic misconduct, hence the error variance is 64 per cent of academic misconduct itself. This error variance increases to 78 per cent when a combination of perceived opportunity, rationalization, Machiavellianism is considered. Moreover, both Machiavellianism and academic misconduct account for 17 per cent of variations in students’ proclivity to CSR ideals. Research limitations/implications – Results imply that creating a setting that significantly increases a student's anticipated negative affect from academic misconduct, or effectively impedes rationalization ex ante, might prevent some students from academic misconduct in the first place and then they will become good African corporate citizens. Nevertheless, although the unit of analysis was students, these were from a single university – something akin to a case study. The quantitative results should therefore be interpreted with this shortcoming in mind. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the search for predictors of academic misconduct in the African setting and as a corollary, for a theory explaining academic misconduct. Those students perceiving opportunity to cheat in examinations are also able to rationalize and hence engage in academic misconduct. This rationalization is enhanced or reduced through Machiavellianism.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shefali Saluja ◽  
Arun Aggarwal ◽  
Amit Mittal

Purpose The fraud landscape talks about the existence of fraudulent activities and can be assessed with the help of fraud literature. Taking this into consideration, this paper qualitatively revisits the famous fraud triangle theory developed by Donald R. Cressey (1950) which is the most traditional theory to detect a fraud. This paper aims to discuss various fraud models that have been extensions to fraud triangle theory and reviews the factors that drive a corporate fraud. This study is divided into two phases. The first phases discuss the various theories which have been developed to detect and prevent corporate frauds in organisations, and in the second phase the authors recognize “integrity” as a new extension to the basic fraud theory. The integrity model has been introduced as “fraud square” contributing to the development of fraud theory. Integrity plays a very important role in detecting corporate frauds, and this paper will act as a theoretical benchmark for future references. The implication of this study would help future researchers, academicians and practitioners to understand the fourth element of the fraud theory and would help improve the professional standards of organisations and regulators. Design/methodology/approach This paper revisits the literature in detail and reviews the most acknowledged models to explain “why people commit frauds” – the fraud triangle, fraud scale, the fraud diamond, the ABC model, the MICE model and the SCORE model. The authors contend that the traditional models need to be modernized to acclimate to the current developments in the rapidly increasing fraud incidents, both in occurrence and seriousness. Additionally, this paper builds on theoretical background to generate new model so as to improve the understanding behind the major factors which lead to commitment of frauds. Findings The authors identify a major element – integrity – in the research. As per ACFE 2020, “There are more than 3.3 billion people in the global workforce, half of them takes illegal use of gains from the organisation and some are discipled with integrity who does not cause any harm to the organisation.” To prevent fraud, integrity plays a very important role in organisations (Bakri et al., 2017). It has been found that individuals with less integrity are basically specified to a greater level of mismanagement. The organisations that have worked with integrity will improve performance at work and will always promote the best employees to work with less supervision. Originality/value This paper develops the integrity model to contribute to the development of fraud theory by identifying the key factors that play a major role in whether fraud will actually occur and acting as a theoretical benchmark for all future reference.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachael Rief ◽  
Samantha Clinkinbeard

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between officer perceptions of fit in their organization and stress (organizational and operational), overall job satisfaction and turnover contemplation (within the last 6 months).Design/methodology/approachThe authors used cross-sectional survey data from a sample of 832 officers from two Midwest police departments to examine the relationships between fit, stress and work-related attitudes.FindingsPerceived stress and organizational fit were strong predictors of overall job satisfaction and turnover contemplation; organizational fit accounted for the most variation in stress, satisfaction and turnover contemplation. Organizational stress partially mediated the relationship between organizational fit and job satisfaction and organizational fit and turnover contemplation.Research ImplicationsMore research is needed to identify predictors of organizational fit perceptions among police officers.Practical implicationsFindings indicate that agencies should pay close attention to the organizational culture and structure when trying to address issues of officer well-being and retention. Further, the person−environment framework can be a useful tool in examining police occupational outcomes.Originality/valueThe authors findings contribute to research on officer stress by exploring perceptions of organizational fit as a predictor of stress and unpacking how officer stress matters to important work outcomes, including job satisfaction and thoughts of turnover, by considering stress as a mediator between organizational fit and these work outcomes.


Author(s):  
Ramo Palalić ◽  
Veland Ramadani ◽  
Arnela Ðilović ◽  
Alina Dizdarević ◽  
Vanessa Ratten

Purpose This study aims to examine the entrepreneurial intentions of university students at the International University of Sarajevo. For this purpose, the entrepreneurial desires and entrepreneurial orientations of the students across several demographic variables were measured. These variables included prior entrepreneurial experience, student’s gender, faculty, year of study and attitude towards more courses on entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, the research also examined how business environment influences the entrepreneurial intentions of students by considering the same set of variables. Design/methodology/approach The objectives of this paper have been achieved by using a quantitative research instrument, where the cross-sectional survey method for collecting primary data is used. In total, 173 usable responses have been collected from the beginning of April to the end of May in the academic year 2015/2016. Findings The results indicate that the greater the demotivation with the current business surrounding, the smaller the entrepreneurial intentions of the students are when the prior entrepreneurial experience, gender, year of study and attitude towards more courses on entrepreneurship are considered. The study suggests that improving the overall business surrounding and entrepreneurial education might increase the entrepreneurial intentions of the students. Originality/value This is the first paper that treats entrepreneurial intentions of University students in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


Author(s):  
Layla Skinns ◽  
Lindsey Rice ◽  
Amy Sprawson ◽  
Andrew Wooff

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how police authority – in its “soft” form – is used and understood by staff and detainees in police custody in England, examining how these meanings are shaped by this unique police setting. It is argued that the nature of this setting, as fraught and uncertain, along with the large volume of citizens who come into contact with the police therein, makes police custody the ultimate “teachable moment”. Design/methodology/approach The present paper is based on in-depth qualitative data collected between March 2014 and May 2015 in four custody suites (in four forces). In each site, the researchers spent three to four weeks observing and then interviewed 10-15 staff (largely police officers, detention officers but also a few other criminal justice practitioners) and 10-15 detainees. In total, the paper is based on 532 hours of observing and 97 interviews (47 with staff and 50 with detainees). Findings One way that the staff used their authority in the custody suites in the research was softly and innocuously; this entailed for example staff communicating in a respectful manner with detainees, such as by being deliberately polite. The authors conclude that this “soft” power was a dynamic, processual matter, shaped in particular by the physical conditions of the suite, the uncertain and insecure nature of detainees’ circumstances, as well as by the sense of disempowerment they felt as a result of being deprived of their liberty and autonomy, all of which contributed to police custody being the ultimate “teachable moment”. Originality/value The paper draws on a range of qualitative data collected from both staff and detainees in four types of police custody suites as part the “good” police custody study. It therefore makes an original contribution to the field which has tended to rely on cross-sectional surveys of citizens not policed populations (Harkin, 2015; Worden and Mclean, 2017).


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