Approaches to the Empirical Study of Convenience Theory for White-Collar Crime

Convenience theory suggests that members of the elite in society commit financial crime in their professional roles when alternative actions require too much effort. Convenience is a relative concept where white-collar crime is chosen over legitimate actions when there is a strong economical motive, ample organizational opportunities, and acceptance of deviant behavior. To study convenience theory, four investigations are presented in this article: statistical sample of white-collar criminals, autobiographies by white-collar criminals, internal investigations of white-collar crime, and student elicitation on white-collar crime. The strongest relationship within convenience theory seems to be the effect from willingness to commit crime based on deviant behavior on organizational opportunity to commit white-collar crime.     

Theory of Convenience: Determinants of White-Collar Crime Intention

ABSTRACT

Crime intentions are an important area of research in criminology. Yet substitutes for real intentions have to be applied since respondents will be reluctant to tell truthfully of their tendency to commit a crime. In this article, we present determinants of white-collar crime based on the theory of convenience. Convenience theory suggests that the extent of individual convenience orientation determines to what extent a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his or her occupation will make a decision to violate the law whenever alternative decisions are less convenient. A more stressful and greedy financial motive, an improved organizational opportunity to commit and conceal crime, and a stronger personal willingness for deviant behavior are assumed to influence the extent of white-collar crime intention. Based on a survey of business school students, we find support for suggested causal relationships in the theory of convenience. Business school students are relevant for this research, as they will occupy positions in the future where they can commit financial crime, prevent crime, or become victims of such crime.     

Convenience in White-Collar Crime: Introducing a Core Concept

This article is concerned with white-collar criminals and considers the role of convenience in explaining crime occurrence. The article puts forward convenience as a theoretical concept that underlies existing theories and research on white-collar crime. Convenience seems present in all three dimensions of crime: economic dimension, organizational dimension, and behavioral dimension. Convenience in white-collar crime implies savings in time and effort by privileged and trusted individuals to solve a problem, where alternatives seem less attractive, and future threats of detection and punishment are minimal. The proposed theory of convenience in white-collar crime emerges as an integrated explanation in need of more theoretical work as well as empirical study.     

The Social Ecology of White-Collar Crime: Applying Situational Action Theory to White-Collar Offending

This article applies the integrated framework of situational action theory (SAT) to white-collar crime causation – previously unexamined in this perspective, drawing also on data from a small-scale study based on semi-structured interviews with white-collar offenders. The key arguments and findings are discussed around SAT’s categories, modified in accordance with white-collar crime particularities: criminogenic propensity, workplace environmental factors, and the individual-environment situational mechanisms. This initial SAT application shows that its constructs can be fruitfully deployed in explaining white-collar crime only to a moderate extent. The findings are not fully supportive of SAT’s “weak law-relevant morality” and deterrence arguments, while SAT’s moral correspondence situational mechanism provides a novel way to explain crimes within criminogenic workplace cultures.     

Extending Situational Action Theory to White-Collar Crime

A theory that has started to receive increased empirical attention is Situational Action Theory. This theory argues that an individual’s morality is the central individual-level variable in predicting offending. It also hypothesizes that low self-control will only predict offending among those with low morals. Although this theory has been applied to street crime, the current study represents the first time it has been applied to white-collar crime. With the use of a scenario-based methodology, the results support the theory. Along with the implications of these findings, limitations and directions for future research are also presented.     

Low Self-Control Versus the Desire-For-Control: An Empirical Test of White-Collar Crime and Conventional Crime

Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) general theory of crime has been used to explain a wide variety of criminal and analogous behaviors, yet the few studies that have tested its ability to account for white-collar and corporate offending have yielded mixed results. One response to these mixed findings has been to explore the possibility that unique attributes may predict white-collar and corporate offending. In this vein, limited research examining the relationship between desire-for-control, a similar yet competing construct as low self-control, and corporate crime has revealed desire-for-control to be a stronger predictor of corporate crime than low self-control. The current study expands on existing research by examining the relationship between desire-for-control and low self-control in predicting conventional offending, white-collar or occupational offending, and corporate offending. Results indicate that desire-for-control is a stronger predictor of white-collar and corporate offending than low self-control, but that, as expected, this relationship does not hold true for conventional crime. Theoretical implications and future research directions are also discussed.     

The Company Man: A Case of White-Collar Crime

Insider trading scandals on Wall Street have focused public attention on the abuse of money and power in the service of greed. The analytic situation described in this paper involves a patient who was involved in a major white-collar crime in the 1990s and imprisoned on charges of fraud. Release from prison brought his anxieties about money, work, and masculinity into sharp focus. The paper explores the some of the emotional conflicts and confusion around corporate success and failure, and the particular issues that arise when people identify themselves with the company they work for, something that corporate culture has always encouraged.     

Social Bonds and White-Collar Crime: A Two-Study Assessment of Informal Social Controls in White-Collar Offenders

ABSTRACT

In two studies, this paper examines age-graded informal social controls (bonds) in white-collar offenders. Using register data, Study 1 compares bonds in a sample of white-collar offenders to a matched control sample, while Study 2 uses probation data to examine bonds within a subsample of white-collar offenders of Study 1. The results show that white-collar offenders, including those who occupy executive positions and those with an adult-crime onset, were characterized by weakened bonds and that early-onset offenders had weaker bonds than adult-onset offenders. Along with the implications of these findings for theory, limitations and directions for future research are presented.     

Empirical Evidence of Convenience Theory: Reports of Investigations by Fraud Examiners

Convenience theory attempts to integrate various theoretical explanations for the occurrence of white-collar crime. Convenience theory suggests that organizational opportunity to commit and conceal financial crime is at the core of deviant behavior to avoid threats and exploit possibilities. This article presents an empirical test of convenience theory by content analysis of investigation reports by fraud examiners. Empirical evidence suggests that convenience orientation was indeed present among suspected offenders.     

Some Personality Correlates of Business White-Collar Crime

On présente dans cet article les résultats de la première étude transversale européenne portant sur les dimensions de la personnalité en relation avec les délits financiers commis par les cols blancs. Ce travail est un prolongement de la recherche de Collin & Schmidt (1992) sur les délits des cols blancs aux Etats‐Unis. Les données ont été récoltées auprès de 150 cadres en poste dans des sociétés commerciales allemandes et de 76 délinquants en col blanc anciennement cadres. Les répondants ont rempli des échelles papier crayon mesurant l’hédonisme (l’Echelle de Valeurs de Schwartz), le sens des responsabilités (NEO‐FFI), le narcissisme (DSM‐III‐R), la désirabilité sociale (Crowne & Marlowe), et le self‐control comportemental. L’analyse de régression logistique montra que 69% de la variance était commune aux deux groupes. Le délit financier commis par un col blanc dépend du sexe (les hommes sont surreprésentés), d’un faible self‐control comportemental, d’un hédonisme élevé, d’un fort narcissisme et d’un sens des responsabilités affirmé quand la désirabilité sociale est statistiquement contrôlée. Ce résultat concernant le sens des responsabilités est toutefois en contradiction avec l’interprétation que Collins et Schmidt donnent de leurs travaux (1993). On peut supposer que les délinquants en col blanc haut placés combinent malhonnêteté et sens des responsabilités élevé. In this paper the results of the first cross‐sectional study in Europe examining personality correlates of white‐collar crime in business are presented. This study is an extension of Collins and Schmidt's (1993 ) research on white‐collar crime in the United States. The data were obtained from 150 managers currently active in German corporations and 76 white‐collar criminals who formerly held such positions. Participants filled out paper and pencil scales measuring hedonism (Schwartz Value Scale), conscientiousness (NEO‐FFI), narcissism (DSM‐III‐R), social desirability ( Crowne & Marlowe, 1960 ), and behavioral self‐control. The logistic regression analysis accounted for 69 per cent of the variance between the two groups. Business white‐collar crime is predicted by gender (males higher rates than females), low behavioral self‐control, high hedonism, high narcissism, and high conscientiousness after statistically controlling for social desirability. The results concerning conscientiousness, however, contradict the interpretation of findings reported by Collins and Schmidt (1993 ). It is argued here that high‐ranking white‐collar criminals in business combine low integrity with high conscientiousness.     

Violentization: A Relatively Singular Theory of Violent Crime

Violentization offers a unique explanation of violent crime for four reasons: (1) the theory explains the formation of violent criminal acts, the development of violent criminals, as well as the transformation and maintenance of the communities in which they evolve and later commit their crimes; (2) the theory identifies the stages through which violent encounters, socialization, and communal organization/disorganization unfold; (3) the theory treats violent criminals as active agents in their violent criminal acts; and (4) it is constructed from an insider’s viewpoint because the researcher has undergone similar experiences as the people whose actions his theory explains.     

The Effects of Low Self-Control and Desire-for-Control on White-Collar Offending: A Replication

To further our understanding of the similarities and differences between street-level and white-collar offending, two personality traits were used to predict offending intentions. The independent and joint roles of low self-control and desire-for-control on intentions to engage in embezzlement, credit card fraud, and shoplifting were assessed. Findings suggested that while low self-control was predictive of intentions to offend, the impact of desire-for-control varied based on the respondent’s level of self-control. In contrast to prior studies, desire-for-control reduced offending intentions, but only among those with high self-control. A discussion of these findings is offered, along with study limitations and future directions.     

Reasons for Gaps in Crime Reporting: The Case of White-Collar Criminals Investigated by Private Fraud Examiners in Norway

Recent years have seen an increasing use of private internal investigations assessing financial irregularities that often imply economic crime. When fraud examiners discover evidence of white-collar crime, they often leave it to their clients whether the issue should be reported to the police. We examine the gaps in white-collar crime reporting after fraud examination and reasons behind such decisions. In Norway, non-reporting could be as high as 96%, as calculated in this article. We apply techniques of neutralization to private fraud examiners’ reasoning for non-reporting of suspected or detected white-collar crime. We also offer possible policy-based solutions to reduce the identified gaps in reporting.     

Falsifying Merton's Macro-Level Anomie Theory of Profit-Motivated Crime: A Research Note

The objective of our article is straightforward. We seek to derive, and to confront with data, an empirical model of Robert K. Merton's macro-level, anomie theory of profit-motivated crime. We use Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression equations to estimate the joint effects of measures of the acceptance of material success goals and absolute and relative deprivation, respectively, on cross-national rates of drug trafficking. Consistent with the predictions derived from Mertonian anomie theory, the coefficients for the product terms (the acceptance of success goals × absolute deprivation and the acceptance of success goals × relative deprivation) are significant and positive. This investigation provides what we believe is the first evaluation of the Mertonian proposition that the cultural (goals) and structural (means) components of social systems operate together to increase the level of profit-motivated crime. What is missing, of course, is a measure of anomie. We are forced to infer that anomie is the causal mechanism that links the joint influence of culture and social structure on pecuniary crime. Admittedly, this is an unavoidable limitation of the current investigation.     

A Student Development Theory to Practice Workshop

This article describes a workshop designed to introduce Chickering's theory to paraprofessional staff.     

The Creative Medical Student: A Descriptive Study

Biographical study distinguished high from low creative medical students by broken homelife, greater preference for movies, modern music, serious books, bridge playing and creative hobbies. High creatives seek challenge, academic or research careers, verbal and imaginative expression. Low creatives have higher motivation, better academic grades, more economic and family interests, are often oldest children and head for general practice. Independent, original explorations characterize high creativity while traditional, authoritative explanations satisfy the less creative. Fricke's Opinion, Attitude and Interest Survey made the creativity identification. Factor analysis related OAIS Scores, Omnibus Personality Inventory and Medical College Admission Test scores to cross check with biography data. A motivational Index is suggested as a predictor of supportive value to the creativity score.     

Student Burnout and Engagement: A Test of the Conservation of Resources Theory

The current study explored predictors of burnout and engagement in 1st-year college students. The theory of conservation of resources was used to create a path model for burnout and engagement. Specifically, the theory suggests that perceptions of demands mediate the relationship between resources and coping strategies. In turn, coping mediates the relationship of demands on the outcomes of burnout and engagement. Results indicate demands partially mediated the relationship between resources and coping strategies. Similarly, coping partially mediated the relationship between demands and burnout and engagement. Results suggest that teaching students adaptive ways of coping and extinguishing maladaptive ways of coping with the academic environment can increase engagement and decrease burnout. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.     

价值观取向理论结构及实证

尝试用新的视角——取向研究视角,对价值观进行整合研究,建构一种与社会情境结合更紧密、更具概括性的价值观取向理论。价值观取向理论的假设结构模型包括四种价值观取向维度：社会取向,个人取向,积极取向和消极取向。根据理论模型编制价值观取向量表,以974名被试为研究对象,运用探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析方法对该理论模型进行实证研究。结果证明了该理论结构的存在,理论结构中各维度的因素负荷和拟合指数良好,价值观取向量表具有良好的信度和结构效度。