Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-22-2009
Publication Source
Institute for Fraud Prevention (IFP) at West Virginia University
Abstract
In this paper we use a primarily “behavioral lens” (cf. Ramamoorti, 2008; Ramamoorti & Olsen, 2007) to try to understand the state-of-mind and motivations of the C-level suite/white collar offender before, during, and after the perpetration of management fraud. We offer a useful conceptual approach called “A-B-C Analysis” to understand the incidence of fraud from individual and group perspectives, as well as more macro-oriented, cultural/contextual levels. It is our hypothesis that fraud occurs either because of an individual criminal’s calculated/intentional betrayal of trust, a duo or team of “bad boys” who push ethical envelopes, and/or an organizational/social/national culture of passivity, indifference or accommodation that is tantamount to condoning such behaviors. We have called it the Bad Apple, Bad Bushel, or Bad Crop Syndrome: the so-called ABCs of white collar crime. Our interdisciplinary review of the literature, spanning (social) psychology, sociology and criminology, psychoanalysis and psychiatry, and anthropology, as well as our collective experience as practicing fraud examiners, investigators and consultants, have yielded some rich insights.
Document Version
Postprint
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Authors
Publisher
Institute for Fraud Prevention (IFP) at West Virginia University
eCommons Citation
Ramamoorti, Sridhar; Morrison, Daven; and Koletar, Joseph W., "Bringing Freud to Fraud: Understanding the State-of-Mind of the C-Level Suite/White Collar Offender through “A-B-C” Analysis" (2009). Accounting Faculty Publications. 71.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/acc_fac_pub/71
Included in
Accounting Commons, Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons, Corporate Finance Commons, Nonprofit Administration and Management Commons
Comments
The document available for download is the authors' accepted manuscript, provided with author Sri Ramamoorti's permission. Permission documentation is on file.