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This paper aims to systematically review over two decades of academic articles on romance fraud to provide a holistic insight into this crime and identify literature gaps.

More than two decades of peer-reviewed academic journal articles from 2000 to 2023 were systematically reviewed using multiple search engines and databases for relevant papers, identified through searches of paper titles, keywords, abstracts and primary texts.

The findings reveal 10 themes: i) the definitions and terminology of romance fraud; ii) romance fraud’s impact on victims; iii) the profile of romance fraud criminals and victims; iv) romance fraud methods and techniques; v) why victims become susceptible to romance fraud; vi) the psychology of romance fraud criminals; vii) the links between romance fraud and other crimes; viii) the challenges of investigating romance fraud; ix) preventing romance fraud and protecting victims; and x) how romance fraud victims can be supported.

The paper reveals implications regarding the future direction of policy and strategy to address the pervasive low reporting rates and narratives of shame bound with victims of this crime.

Romance fraud is a serious crime against individuals with impacts beyond financial losses. Still, this fraud type is under-researched, and the literature lacks a holistic view of this crime. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic literature review providing a holistic view of romance fraud. It combines evidence across the academic landscape to reveal the breadth and depth of the current work concerning romance fraud and identify gaps in the understanding of this fraud crime.

This study aims to examine the direct influence of workplace bullying (WB) on internal auditors’ independence using the nexus between the agency theory and social exchange theory. From the internal auditors’ perspective, the investigation covered both government and private colleges and universities in one of the Middle East countries.

A survey was administered and delivered to internal auditors at each of the 85 educational institutions. A total of 267 valid questionnaires were analysed. The study’s measurement and structural models were tested and evaluated by using SmartPLS v.4 and partial least squares-structural equation modelling.

The study results indicated that bullying is common among senior managers, and that it has a significant, negative, high-level and direct effect on the independence of internal auditors in the higher education sector.

Regulators and other stakeholders should make a deliberate effort to promote positive behaviours and abandon negative ones regarding the independence of internal auditors and the performance of audit teams, which play a crucial role in enhancing the efficiency of audit units. For example, enhancing coordination and communication internally and externally. In addition to providing the internal auditors with equitable advancement and learning opportunities, senior management should also support their professional development.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to examine the relationship between WB and the internal auditor’s independence in the context of government and private organisations in Southwest Asian countries.

The purpose of this paper is to help better understand the translation process of the management control system (MCS) of privatised solid waste management (SWM) towards creating a stable network.

Drawing on the actor network theory (ANT), the case of a privatised SWM was studied. Data were collected from all entities involved in the privatisation process of SWM, which include Department A, Corporation X and the private sector concessionaire. Six documents were reviewed, 20 interviews were conducted and two observations were carried out.

The findings reveal that the control mechanism of SWM is complex, involving the interaction between human and non-human actors. Non-human actors include the key performance indicators (KPIs) and the concessionaire agreement (CA), which are the main control mechanisms towards creating a stable SWM network. Essentially, stability is achieved when the KPIs and CA can influence the activities of both intra- and inter-organisational relationships.

This paper provides a better understanding of the translation process of the MCS that adds to the stability of the network of a privatised SWM from the lens of the ANT.

This study investigates the relationship between companies with military directors and audit fees in Indonesia.

Using upper echelon and audit pricing theories, the authors examine military directors' roles in the demand for and supply of auditing services. The authors use Indonesia as their research setting as their military forces have a long history of involvement in business. The study sample includes 898 firm-year observations on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during 2014–2018.

The authors find a negative relationship between military connections and audit fees. This is consistent with auditors assessing lower audit risk and charging lower audit fees to companies that have leaders with military experience. The study findings are strongest where there is military experience on the board of directors and where the military experience is from the Army.

This study extends the literature on the benefits of military experience in company leadership, especially in the context of auditing research. The study findings also have implications for the selection of board candidates and auditor risk assessments.

Gender-diverse people experience unique cultural and interpersonal stigma in mainstream society and sometimes within their own communities; they face allegations of inauthenticity based on their nonconformity to either cisnormative or transnormative gender regimes. Based on 21 in-depth life history interviews, we unveil the intricate interactional process of negotiating identity and authenticity in the biographical work of gender-diverse individuals. In this study, gender-diverse people engaged in a “gender audit” with their gender-diverse interviewer. Gender audits yield verbal performances of gender with oneself and others. Ambiguity was “accounted for” or “embraced and created” in their biographical work to organize their life stories and undermine binary essentialism – a discourse that was “discursively constraining.” Gender audits took place in participants' day-to-day lives, either through self-audits, questioning from others, or both. In the final analysis, we assert that we all engage in gender auditing. Gender audits are intersubjective sites of domination, subordination, resistance, and social change. Gender diversity, then, can be viewed as a product of gender in flux.

This study aims to investigate the factors that influence asset misappropriation fraud among police officers in the Internal Security and Public Order (Malay: Keselamatan Dalam Negeri dan Ketenteraman Awam [KDNKA]) Department, Royal Malaysian Police (RMP).

Primary data were collected from a questionnaire-based survey and the data were analysed using descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and multiregression.

The element of pressure was found to have a negative relationship with asset misappropriation fraud. This result shows the uniqueness of the KDNKA Department in the RMP. The other three elements are found to have a significant positive relationship with asset misappropriation fraud.

This study’s findings can aid academicians in gaining a better understanding of the literature surrounding fraud diamond theory and aid the policymakers in recognizing the signs and possibilities of asset misappropriation fraud in public agencies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that uses the KDNKA Department which is the second largest department in RMP as a population in fraud study.

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of literature on policing money laundering to evaluate the quality of evidence presented in academic and grey literature. In doing so, this paper reflects upon what strategies and mechanisms work in preventing, detecting and disrupting money laundering.

To investigate the quality of evidence presented in academic and grey literature on money laundering, the authors have conducted a structured literature review of over 1,000 sources. The authors have then evaluated the quality of evidence of these sources by using three distinct methods, namely, the Maryland scale, research excellence framework and quality of empirical evidence framework.

This paper finds a large number of studies on money laundering meeting the highest academic quality standard. However, only a very small number of those studies include empirical evidence that policing measures actually work with no study able to demonstrate a correlation between money laundering measures and risk factors at any point in time.

This paper provides practical and theoretical insights into what works in money laundering and the role of scientific evaluations. It is particularly relevant for the successful implementation of anti-money laundering policy measures, including, for example, the UK’s Economic Crime Plan 2023–2026, which aspires to measure the progress and impact of policing in this area.

The study aimed to address how recruits perceive their roles and develop professional identities during in-classroom and in-field training.

This study explored the professional identity formation process by analysing asynchronous surveys with recruits from 13 municipal police departments in British Columbia, Canada. The participants were surveyed twice: after classroom-based training following Block I at the British Columbia Police Academy (BCPA) and after their departmental field training following Block II.

The analysis revealed that police recruits lacking public safety experience transformed their occupation and lifestyle. The training at the police academy helped develop recruits' muscle memory as they applied their knowledge to the situation through hands-on practice. Moreover, teamwork at the police academy and during field training allowed recruits to form their police identity. The study was conducted between 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus revealing how the recruits learnt effectively whilst facing continuous challenges and adjusting.

This study relied solely on the respondents' language in text-based answers; therefore, it was not possible to ask follow-up questions or seek clarification. Consequently, several inputs were excluded from the analysis. This would not have been the case if a quantitative method, where answers can be selected accurately, had been used.

This study demonstrates that police recruits acquire diverse competencies and skill sets through rigorous formal requirements, nuanced informal aspects and comprehensive training at the BCPA and during field training, all of which pivotal in shaping their professional identities.