The Effects of Social Concern on White-Collar Offending

ABSTRACT

This study tested Agnew’s social concern theory by examining empathy’s role on both street and white-collar offenses. As Agnew argued social concern elements would have both moderating and mediating effects with other causes of crime, how empathy interacted with low self-control was also assessed. Using an undergraduate sample, empathy was protective of credit card fraud, embezzlement, and shoplifting intentions. Although empathy did not interact with low self-control, empathy had indirect effects on shoplifting and embezzlement through its effects on low self-control. Empathy mediated the effects of low self-control on credit card fraud. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Drs. Nicole Leeper Piquero, Alex R. Piquero, Robert Morris, Nadine Connell, and Adam Trahan for their assistance on this article.

Notes

¹ As there is a debate as to the definition of white-collar crime, it is important to specify the current study’s conceptual definition. Taken from the definition developed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), white-collar crime is “Those illegal acts which are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and which are not dependent upon the application or threat of physical force or violence. Individuals and organizations commit these acts to obtain money, property, or services; to avoid the payment or loss of money or services; or to secure personal or business advantage” (U.S. Department of Justice 1989:3).

² These scenarios have also been used in prior research (Schoepfer et al. 2014).

³ The low self-control scale, the affective empathy scale, and the cognitive empathy scale were all found to be unidimensional in confirmatory factor analyses (results available on request).

⁴ Due to multicollinearity concerns, the effects of the two empathy measures were estimated separately as opposed to within the same Tobit regression.

⁵ In order to avoid issues of multicollinearity, the variables were mean-centered (Baron and Kenny 1986).

⁶ This study assessed for normality and heteroscedasticity within the regression models and they were not found to be an issue. Missing data were also not found to be a concern. Specifically, the data were missing for less than 5% of all variables. It was also found that these missing data were either missing at random or missing completely at random. Fourteen multivariate outliers (approximately 5% of the sample) were identified using Mahalinobis Distance scores and were removed from the analysis.

⁷ It should be noted that cognitive empathy was only a marginal predictor for embezzlement intentions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jessica M. Craig

JESSICA M. CRAIG is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Texas. Her research interests include criminological theory, life course criminology and white-collar crime. Some of her recent work can be seen in Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, Crime & Delinquency, and Journal of Criminal Justice.