Title: Employees' fraudulent behaviour: a social cognitive analysis

Authors: Michalis Bekiaris; Georgios Papachristou

Addresses: University of the Aegean, Michalon 8, Chios, Greece ' University of the Aegean, Michalon 8, Chios, Greece

Abstract: This study empirically examines the effects of personal attributes and organisational conditions on employees' propensity to commit or engage in fraudulent acts. Based on social cognitive theory and prior research, hypotheses were developed and then tested using survey data collected from 214 employees of private firms in Greece. After analysing the influence of big five personality traits and demographic characteristics on employees' fraudulent behaviour in the workplace, the results indicate that conscientiousness and openness to experience have a significant negative impact on fraud intention. Gender is found to influence fraud propensity, as women are less eager to defraud. Ethical culture is also found to be negatively related to employees' fraud tendency. Further, a moderating effect of organisational context on the relationship between personality traits and fraud propensity is found to be related solely to openness to experience. The theoretical and practical implications for accounting and human resource management are discussed.

Keywords: personal attributes; ethical culture; social cognitive theory; SCT; fraud propensity; big five personality traits.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCA.2021.118324

International Journal of Critical Accounting, 2021 Vol.12 No.4, pp.294 - 314

Received: 03 Sep 2020
Accepted: 16 Feb 2021
Published online: 20 Oct 2021 *

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