Search results

This study aims to use opportunity as a theoretical lens to investigate how the spatio-temporal and social dimensions of the consumption environment create perceived opportunities for consumers to misbehave.

Drawing on routine activity theory and social impact theory, the authors use two experiments to demonstrate that spatio-temporal and social dimensions can explain consumer theft in retail settings.

Study 1 reveals mixed empirical support for the basic dimensions of routine activity theory, which posits that the opportunity to thieve is optimised when a motivated offender, suitable target and the absence of a capable formal guardian transpire in time and space. Extending the notion of guardianship, Study 2 tests social impact theory and shows that informal guardianship impacts the likelihood of theft under optimal routine activity conditions.

The study findings highlight important implications for academicians and retail managers: rather than focusing on the uncontrollable characteristics of thieving offenders, more controllable spatio-temporal and social factors of the retail environment can be actively monitored and manipulated to reduce perceived opportunities for consumer misbehaviour.

The purpose of this study is to test a comprehensive routine activity framework on three types of online victimization. Prior research has utilized routine activity theory to explain varied online forms of victimization, but most have focused on its person-based forms. The present study, therefore, expands upon this research to examine the effects of online exposure, online target suitability and online guardianship upon phishing, hacking and malware infection victimization.

Secondary data from the 23rd Cycle of the Canadian GSS were used to address the study’s research questions using binary logistic regression analyses.

Particular online behaviors were consistently and positively related to all three types of online victimization, including booking/making reservations, social networking and having one’s information posted online. Other online routines exhibited unique effects on online victimization risk.

In support of the theory, the results suggest that online exposure and target suitability increase risks for phishing, hacking and malware victimization. Online guardianship was also positively related to victimization, a finding that runs counter to theoretical expectations.

In the field of crime prevention there are several theoretical approaches explaining why crime occurs and how to prevent it. Three of them – routine activity theory, crime pattern theory and the theory of crime-as-choice – are logically tested in this work. The point of departure is to test if the theories are logical consistent and logical valid, irrespective of whether the criterion for criminal intent is changed from direct intention to negligence.

The issues will be explored in a logical structure by a first-order logic propositional analysis.

The analysis shows that all three theories are logical consistent, but only routine activity theory is logical valid. The conclusion is that crime prevention should in general assume that routine activity theory is the legitimate theory and that social prevention as a prevention strategy is logically unnecessary to adopt because it does not matter whether the offender is motivated (direct intention) or not (negligence).

It does not really matter if the authors theoretically treat white-collar offenders as motivated, because if they have committed an actus reus, they are an offender according to the objective requisites. This means that the best strategies to prevent a potential white-collar criminal are situational prevention, i.e. complicate their access to money, where it becomes irrelevant if the potential offender has a mens rea or not. What counts is the prevention of actus reus by a potential offender.

As far as I know, no one has previously investigated the logical consistency and/or logical validity of routine activity theory, crime pattern theory and the theory of crime-as-choice as theories of crime prevention.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of exposure to motivated offenders who may alter the vulnerability levels to phishing victimization. This is particularly focused on explaining the influences of individuals’ online lifestyles and attitudes toward information sharing online on phishing susceptibility.

This conceptual paper explores the risk of phishing victimization using criminological theories. The authors draw on empirical evidence from existing cybercrime literature and revisit routine activities theory (RAT) and lifestyle RAT (LRAT) to elucidate the risk of phishing victimization. This paper proposes that cyber-RAT, which was developed from RAT and LRAT, could interpret phishing victimization. Grounded on the intervention-based theory against cybercrime phishing, this study suggests that an attitude toward precautionary behavior (information sharing online) is essential to mitigate the phishing victimization risk.

This paper aims to provide a clear insight into the understanding of phishing victimization risk using theoretical and empirical evidence.

The theoretical perspective outlined provides the understanding of the impacts of online routine activities on a phishing attack which in turn will increase the awareness of phishing threats. The important role of the precautionary countermeasure, that is, attitudes toward information sharing online is highlighted to reconcile the phishing victimization risk.

While a number of IS security researchers consider the threat posed by employees who perpetrate computer crime, there is currently a lack of insight into how the offender interacts with the criminal context both prior to and during commission. A greater understanding of this relationship may complement existing security practices by possibly highlighting new areas for safeguard implementation. To help facilitate a greater understanding of the offender/environment dynamic, this paper, therefore, aims to assess the feasibility of applying three criminological theories to the IS security context. Rather than focusing on why people become criminals, these theories entitled routine activity theory, environmental criminology and the rational choice perspective, focus on the criminal act.

Drawing on an account of the Barings Bank collapse, events highlighted in the case study are used to assess whether concepts central to the theories are supported by the data.

Analysis indicates support for the concepts central to environmental criminology and the rational choice perspective. While case study evidence supports two of the concepts advanced by routine activity theory, as a whole the theory is found wanting, as the “guardianship” and “handled offender” concepts appear to lack the necessary sophistication to theoretically accommodate and explain supervisory and control failings cited in the case study.

While future research could encompass continued application of the theories to further assess their suitability for the IS domain, consideration could also be given to the application of the preventive tools and methods which have been developed in tandem with the three criminological approaches. Another stream of future research may involve the application of the theories in conjunction with existing security practices.

Greater knowledge of the offender/context dynamic may feasibly enhance existing security practices by possibly highlighting new areas for safeguard implementation.

From an IS security perspective, there is currently a lack of insight into the offender/context dynamic. The paper presents a group of criminological theories, which have previously not been considered for application in the IS context. The theories may feasibly throw light on the behaviour of offenders in the criminal context, both prior to and during commission.

This study aims to develop a unified theoretical framework that presents a cohesive picture of workplace cyberbullying to better understand the interplay between cyberbullying, its effects on organizations and organizational controls enacted to contain these effects.

The study conducts a theoretical review of the workplace cyberbullying literature between 2005 and 2021 drawing upon existing literature and two important theories, the routine activities theory and control theory. The final sample of 54 empirical papers represents a comprehensive body of literature on cyberbullying published across various disciplines.

A theoretical model of workplace cyberbullying is developed, which highlights major antecedents to workplace cyberbullying and its impact on individual employees as well as organizations.

As firms increasingly rely on information and communication technologies (ICTs), the misuse of ICTs in the form of cyberbullying is also increasing. Workplace cyberbullying severely hurts an organization’s employees and compromises the efficacy of its information systems. Fortunately, various controls can be utilized by firms to minimize workplace cyberbullying and its attendant costs. In all, eleven propositions are offered, providing a robust agenda for future research. The authors also offer insights for practitioners on how to minimize cyberbullying in the workplace and its damaging effects.

Violence against the police represents an ongoing and serious problem in the USA. In 2014, over 48,000 law enforcement officers assaulted while on duty. Although over one in four of these resulted in injury, little is known about the conditions under which injury is likely to occur. The purpose of this paper is to provide an assessment of the individual and situational factors that predict injurious assaults against law enforcement.

Using logistic regression, the current study analyzes data from the 2012 National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) on all assaults against the police (n=8,987) in order to understand, within a routine activities theoretical framework, how individual-level characteristics (i.e. officer and offender characteristics) and situational influences (i.e. assignment type, activity type, and location) predict the likelihood that an assault will result in injury.

Overall, findings suggest support for a routine activities theory of violence against the police. Initiating an arrest, one-officer vehicle type, and incidents occurring on highways/roads were all more likely to result in injurious assaults against the police. Other predictors of injury include officer and offender demographics as well as the time the incident took place.

This research was unable to control for some factors that may influence the likelihood of injury such as wearing body armor. Additionally, NIBRS data are not nationally representative, which limits the generalizability of the findings.

This is one of the first papers to use national data to examine the individual and situational factors that predict injurious assaults against law enforcement.

This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework to predict susceptibility to cyber-fraud victimhood.

A survey was constructed to examine whether personality, socio-demographic characteristics and online routine activities predicted one-off and repeat victimhood of cyber-fraud. Overall, 11,780 participants completed a survey (one-off victims, N = 728; repeat victims = 329).

The final saturated model revealed that psychological and socio-demographic characteristics and online routine activities should be considered when predicting victimhood. Consistent with the hypotheses, victims of cyber-frauds were more likely to be older, score high on impulsivity measures of urgency and sensation seeking, score high on addictive measures and engage in more frequent routine activities that place them at great risk of becoming scammed. There was little distinction between one-off and repeat victims of cyber-frauds.

This work uniquely combines psychological, socio-demographic and online behaviours to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework to predict susceptibility to cyber-frauds. Importantly, the work here challenges the current utility of government websites to protect users from becoming scammed and provides insights into methods that might be used to protect users from becoming scammed.

This paper aims to examine demographic differences between individuals who do not take measures to protect themselves from identity theft victimization and those who do. A majority of the research on identity theft has focused on predictors of victimization, reporting behaviors of the victims and their health and mental outcomes. However, little remains known about the individuals who choose to take any identity-theft measures despite concerns over this fast-growing breed of crime.

Guided by Felson and Cohen’s routine activities theoretical framework (1979), this study uses the 2014 Identity Theft Supplement of the National Crime Victimization Survey to identify the demographic characteristics that influence the use of self-protection measures among individuals in the general population.

This study finds that these individuals are much more likely to be white, older, female and highly educated. The decision to undertake protection against identity theft is also influenced by the following factors: prior experience of misuse, possession of a bank account in the prior 12 months, current possession of at least one credit card and awareness that one is entitled to a free copy of one’s credit report.

This study addresses the gap in scholarship on identity theft prevention by applying the concept of guardianship in Cohen and Felson’s routine activity theory (1979) to the usage of self-protection measures in a general population. Future findings will identify the areas which agencies and researchers can focus on to inform policies that foster individuals’ own initiatives to take self-protection measures against potential identity theft.

While online classes have enabled many universities to carry out their regular academic activities, they have also given rise to new and unanticipated ethical concerns. We focus on the “dark side” of online class settings and attempt to illuminate the ethical problems associated with them. The purpose of this study is to investigate the affordances stemming from the technology-user interaction that can result in negative outcomes. We also attempt to understand the context in which these deleterious affordances are actualized.

We obtain the data from narratives written by students at a top private university in Bangladesh about their experiences of online classes and exams and from focus group discussions with them. We use the lens of affordance theory to identify the abilities that goal-oriented actors – primarily students – obtain from the technology-user interactions, which result in negative outcomes. We also attempt to understand the contextual actualization of those affordances through the lens of Routine Activity Theory (RAT).

We find three deleterious affordances and three associated deviant outcomes. Non-monitorability which results in academic dishonesty, disguiseability which results in cyber-truancy, and intrudeability which results in embarrassment and harassment. Our findings reveal a deeper underlying problem with the existing educational approach in the universities of Bangladesh and suggest that there is a need to introduce more modern teaching techniques focused on issues such as student engagement and interactive learning.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that combines affordance theory with RAT to identify unethical practices observed in online class settings in the context of a least developed country like Bangladesh and to examine the environmental components that give rise to the pre-conditions for the unethical practices to surface.