Philosophical understanding of the dynamics and control of occupational fraud in the public sector: contingency analysis
International Journal of Ethics and Systems
ISSN: 2514-9369
Article publication date: 5 August 2022
Issue publication date: 18 April 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the roles of organisational control, structure, culture and technology in preventing occupational fraud. This study is essential in the current time. It brings a significant impact on both theory and practice. In the existing studies, there is a lack of clarity on a specific mechanism to prevent organisational fraud. The problem is that they tend to generalise the types of organisational fraud. Conceptually, organisational fraud may include corruption, double funding, asset misappropriation, bribery or falsification of documents. However, many scholars tend to neglect such diversities. Consequently, many occupational fraud cases become unstoppable, particularly corruption. To deal with this topical issue, the current study applies the term “occupational fraud” cited by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, consisting of corruption, asset misappropriation and fraudulent financial statement.
Design/methodology/approach
This study surveyed three Indonesian Local Governments. This study focussed on management levels that have strong power for coordinating governmental activities. The author chose these local governments because their local leaders (the regents) were jailed due to corruption scandals. As expected, this study gives us different perceptions of how fraud mitigation should be designed in the organisation.
Findings
The results suggest that corruption is a little bit complex than other types of occupational fraud. It is improbable to be prevented through technological and administrative approaches. As such, organisations need to think of extra efforts that could perfectly tailor the organisational control and organisational culture, organisational structure and technological advancement. The benefit of this effort is related to diagnosing the fit or misfit of organisation designs in addressing the dynamic dimensions of corporate governance. Then, it can also strengthen the efficacy of preventive measures to deal with occupational fraud.
Originality/value
This study provides a provocative discussion regarding the public perception of occupational fraud, consisting of corruption, asset misappropriation and financial statement fraud. And this study also offers a new refined conceptual analysis of how to deal with such types of occupational fraud by incorporating contingency theory and the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO’s) internal control components.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the editor-in-chief and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful and constructive comments that greatly contributed to improving the final version of the manuscript. Then, the author also thanks to Lembaga Pengelola dana Pendidikan (Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education) for financing his study in the University of Edinburgh, UK.
Retraction notice: The publishers of the International Journal of Ethics and Systems wish to retract the article: “Philosophical understanding of the dynamics and control of occupational fraud in the public sector: contingency analysis”, by A. Maulidi, which appeared in Volume 39, Issue 2, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-04-2022-0078.
It has come to our attention that statistical errors are present within the article and therefore the findings cannot be relied upon.
As part of an investigation into the article’s findings, the author was requested to provide a copy of the dataset so that the editorial team could verify the findings. The author was unable to provide the dataset and stated they had committed statistical errors. The author would like to note that any wrongdoing was unintentional.
This article has been retracted at the author’s request.
The author and the International Journal of Ethics and Systems sincerely apologise to its readers.
Citation
Maulidi, A. (2023), "Philosophical understanding of the dynamics and control of occupational fraud in the public sector: contingency analysis", International Journal of Ethics and Systems, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 432-463. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-04-2022-0078
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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