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.

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Petter Gottschalk

Petter Gottschalk is a professor in the Department of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo Norway. After completing his education at Technische Universität Berlin, Dartmouth College, MIT, and Henley Management College, he took on executive positions in technology enterprises for 20 years before joining academics. Dr Gottschalk has published extensively on knowledge management, intelligence strategy, police investigations, white-collar crime, and fraud examinations. He lectured at Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice, University of New Haven in 2015 and at the Department of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati in 2018.