Exploring prevention and perpetrator aspects concerning employee fraud in organisations

Are organisations becoming more vulnerable to theft in this electronic age? The recent rise in reported incidents of thefts in all types of organisations seems to suggest this to be the case. Since there is a large amount of possible employee-based prevention, perpetrator and outside factors are embedded into the many constructs of theft and criminal behaviour; factor analysis techniques, in addition, are used to test seven hypotheses about these contributing factors. Constructs, variables and research questions were derived from the literature. Employee theft susceptibility is a function of the organisation (characteristics), prevention, and the perpetrator factor constructs. However, based on a sample of 214 professional employees from a wide range of organisation types and sizes within the Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan area, it was determined that not all these factors were found to be significant. The renamed factor groupings found in the study included the following constructs: Organisation Type, Prevention, Perpetrator, Internal Controls, Trust and Loyalty, Screening Techniques, and Outside Verification. In essence, the independent variable, Perpetrator, significantly predicts employee theft susceptibility within the organisation, as opposed to organisational characteristics and prevention constructs.