Anti-fraud measures and inherent criminogenesis in business organisations

On one hand, this work is based on my published works in academic and professional journals as well as conference papers and presentations prepared for scholarly and professional conferences where I was invited to speak. The articles and conference papers are used as artefacts for this context statement which establishes a coherent body for the public work. On the other hand, I draw on the professional expertise I have acquired during my career as a corporate auditor, fraud investigator, and consultant for compliance and risk management, since 2005. The motivation for this PhD work arises from my aspiration to critically reflect on my observations, analysis and experiences gathered over the last 13 years while dealing with the prevention and investigation of illegal and unethical activities in the business context. Evaluating my professional experience and critically reflecting upon my observations in this thesis, I offer my analysis and discussion on the causation of corporate crime in organisational context. In this context, my goal is to lift the veil on the effectiveness of the conventional anti-fraud measures and strategies, which business organisations traditionally maintain for the reduction of illegal and unethical activities. I have placed my study in the context of existing academic research on the aetiology of corporate crime and I contribute to the current scholarly discussion on the root-cause of corporate crime by elaborating on inherent criminogenesis promoting and facilitating misconduct, fraud and other deviant and illegal behaviour in organisational settings. The original contribution of this work is that it offers a holistic perspective on the root of corporate crime, i.e. a multi-level model of criminogenesis which provides the bedrock to develop comprehensive anti-fraud actions which can holistically address corporate crime at the macro-, meso-, and microlevels. I believe my work has strongly influenced the practice of corporate crime prevention and my research findings contribute to the wider body of knowledge within the field of criminology and especially in the area of criminogenesis in organisational settings