Factors Affecting Employee Fraud: A Study Among Private Companies in Jakarta

Abstract

The increasing number of employee fraud has received great attention these days because it can have a negative impact on staff morale, increase company costs, and damage the company's reputation with the relevant stakeholders. There have been several theories of fraud that have emerged, including Cressey's fraud triangle theory, but many are of the view that the existing theories are only able to explain the triggers of fraud, but are not sufficient as a tool to understand the phenomenon of fraud more comprehensively. There is a missing link in these theories, including the neglect of factors that can reduce fraud, such as ethics, religiosity, spirituality, and so on. This research tries to add personal ethics aspects to Cressey's fraud triangle theory and examines the influence of elements of the fraud triangle theory and personal ethics to employee fraud. The research design used primary data collected through a questionnaire distributed to employees of private companies in Jakarta in 2020. The number of questionnaires sent and returned was 115. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression tests used to data analysis. The results describe that only opportunity influenced positively and significantly to employee fraud; meanwhile, pressure, rationalization, and personal ethics do not have significant influences to employee fraud.