The Motivation to Engage in Fraud by Individuals at the Workplace

This chapter discusses the prevalence of fraudulent acts at the workplace and highlights the dominant factors that explain the motivation for individuals to engage in fraud. The chapter discusses the application of the recently developed fraud theory, the S.C.O.R.E. model, in predicting the occurrence of fraud at the workplace. Drawing from this model, five broad factors: pressure, rationalization, opportunity, capability, and ego are proposed to be directly associated with the motivation to engage in fraudulent acts at the workplace by individuals. The chapter makes significant contributions to the fraud discourse by theoretically proposing the use of a new model in explaining the motivation for individuals to commit fraud at the workplace. The proposed model points out red flags to look out for in minimizing fraud at the workplace and offers academic researchers avenues for future research in the field of fraud. Target Audience: The chapter provides new insights into the fraud discourse to academics, managers of organizations, and auditors using a new theory on Fraud, the S.C.O.R.E. model, as the theoretical underpinning. To practice, some key motivations for the occurrence of fraud among employees are highlighted and hence measures can be put in place to mitigate and subsequently curb the occurrence of fraud at the workplace. In addition, auditors could also be guided by the identified factors to aid in detecting fraudulent activities. The chapter is beneficial to all forms of organizations, public or private, as fraud is reported to be prevalent in all organizations.