Do Perceived Pressure and Perceived Opportunity Influence Employees’ Intention to Commit Fraud?

Abstract

Fraud has always remains an issue for organisations throughout the globe due to the increasing number of fraud occurrences over the years which resulted to the increasing amount of losses. Despite the large amount of efforts by organisations through internal control implementation and the amount of money spent to combat fraud, the numbers of fraud occurrences are still increasing. This study examines the employees’ intention to commit fraud. Specifically, this study examines the influence of perceived pressure and perceived opportunity on employees’ intention to commit fraud. In addition, this study examines the effect of capability in moderating the influence of perceived pressure and perceived opportunity on employees’ intention to commit fraud. Using online questionnaire on 158 employees from various sectors, this study shows that the employees have a low intention to commit fraud. This study also shows an existence of linear relationship between perceived pressure and perceived opportunity on employees’ intention to commit fraud. Consistent with previous studies, this study found that capability of the employees does not influence them to commit fraud. The findings in this study assist the employers to adopt appropriate strategies in preventing and detecting fraud possibility among their employees.