An Application of Durkheim’s Four Categories of Suicide to Organizational Crimes

ABSTRACT

This article applies theoretical developments in the phenomena of suicide to shed light on the phenomena of crime. We draw on Durkheim’s theoretical insights on suicide to develop four categories of organizational crimes. We review the concepts of social integration and moral regulation at the societal level and establish their equivalents at the organizational level: socialization and accountability. We argue that socialization programs and accountability systems in organizations influence the nature of the crime rather than prevent it entirely. We highlight four categories of white-collar crimes that occurred in organizations characterized by different socialization programs and accountability systems.

Acknowledgments

We thank Fong Jia Ling, Angela Verita Lin, and Teng Lin Min for their research assistance as well as Lim Wee Kiat and Jason Yeo for comments on earlier versions of this article.

Funding

We acknowledge the funding of this project by Nanyang Technological University, especially the funds received under the Undergraduate Research Experience on CAmpus (URECA) program.

Notes

¹ These charges include grand larceny, conspiracy, and falsifying business records and violating business law.

² Reflexivity meaning that social practices of society are constantly examining and reexamining behavior and technology, and our thinking about them, not contented to leave things to experts (Giddens 1991).

³ What Adoboli calls his “umbrella” is the mechanism of “setting up a secret fund to hide his own ‘off book’ trades with the aim of concealing unauthorized deals and generating additional profits which could offset losses and meet the rising cost of managing Exchange-traded fund (ETF) trades” (Milmo 2012).

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge the funding of this project by Nanyang Technological University, especially the funds received under the Undergraduate Research Experience on CAmpus (URECA) program.

Notes on contributors

Eugene Kang

EUGENE KANG is an Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. His primary research interests are in the areas of corporate boards, director interlocks and spillover effects, especially in the context of organizational crimes. He adopts an interdisciplinary perspective in his research topics and has published in journals of various disciplines.

NONGNAPAT THOSUWANCHOT is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Strategy, Management and Organization Division at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Her primary research interests are in the areas of corporate governance, top management teams and corporate strategy.