Motives behind white‐collar crime: results of a quantitative and qualitative study in Germany

Abstract

Purpose -Knowledge on corporate crime still lags behind its far-reaching economic significance. In order to learn more about the motives of corporate criminals, qualitative psychological interviews were conducted with convicted offenders to identify the critical motives behind the crimes. In a quantitative analysis the offender profiles were then systematically compared and validated with the help of court records from public prosecutors' offices in Germany. The purpose of this paper is to gain insights into the complex interaction of emotional, motivational and cognitive processes leading up to the crime in order to draw possible conclusions for how best to prevent and combat white-collar crime. Design/methodology/approach -In order to learn more about the motives of corporate criminals, thirteen qualitative psychological interviews were conducted with convicted delinquents in various penitentiaries. The focus was on fraud, embezzlement, breach of trust and corruption. In addition, the court files of 60 corporate criminals from 11 German public prosecutors' offices were analysed systematically in order to evaluate pivotal motives and propitious conditions for criminal behaviour along with characteristic personality traits of the perpetrators. Findings -Five different criminal psychological profiles were identified that enable a better understanding of the motives behind white-collar crime. The key point is to gain insight into the complex interaction of emotional, motivational and cognitive processes that lead to a criminal act in order to derive possible consequences for preventing and combating white-collar crime. The results of the study reveal extremely disparate delinquent types that demand a mix of preventive measures and an adequate compliance management framework. Originality/value -The results of the study reveal extremely disparate delinquent types that demand a mix of preventive measures and an adequate compliance management framework.

Integrating Religiosity into Fraud Triangle Theory: Empirical Findings from Enforcement Officers

“…report on global occupational fraud survey that people will rationalize a crime before committing it (ACFE, 2014). It also verifies various studies that determined rationalization to be one of the motives behind fraud perpetration (Cleff et al, 2013;Kula et al, 2011;Mohamed et al, 2014). This result also supports Said et al (2015), who determined a positive relationship between opportunity with the incidents of fraud among Royal Malaysian Police Officers.…”

“…In terms of asset misappropriation, Mohamed et al (2014) determined that nearly all respondents agreed that rationalization was a factor that leads to fraud, particularly with the sense that "others are doing it as well." Cleff et al (2013) stated that adapting a sense of right and wrong to fit criminal behavior by a fraudster can also be categorized as rationalization. Therefore, rationalization is a complex reason for people opting to do fraudulent activities because it involves arguments that may be considerably judgmental.…”

“…Therefore, rationalization is a complex reason for people opting to do fraudulent activities because it involves arguments that may be considerably judgmental. Cleff et al (2013) explained that a fraudster will attempt to adapt his sense of right and wrong to fit the criminal behavior. Thereafter, this approach will seem to rationalize the criminal behavior and the fraudster can continue with the act without guilt.…”

When white collar criminals turn to fatal violence: The impact of narcissism and psychopathy

“…In line with a number of other scholars (Alalehto, ; Cleff, ; Collins & Schmidt, ; Listwan, Piquero, & Van Voorhis, ), Perri (, p. 221) challenges this “antipsychological position” that typically regards the offences committed by WCC as “out of character” and “nonrecurrent” behaviours, triggered by external factors alone. Drawing on a number of recent empirical studies (Blickle, Schlegel, Fassbender, & Klein, ; Bucy et al, ; Duffield & Grabosky, ), Perri goes beyond simplistic accounts underscoring individual attributes such as the offender's greed and dishonesty and highlights instead the impact of certain personality traits that increase the risk of committing crimes such as fraud, embezzlement, or tax evasion among the white collar.…”

“…In line with a number of other scholars (Alalehto, 2003;Cleff, 2013;Collins & Schmidt, 2006;Listwan, Piquero, & Van Voorhis, 2010), Perri (2011, p. 221) challenges this "antipsychological position" that typically regards the offences committed by WCC as "out of character" and "nonrecurrent" behaviours, triggered by external factors alone.…”