Premium
Needy or Greedy? The Social Psychology of Individuals Who Fraudulently Claim Unemployment Benefits 1
Author(s) -
Hessing D. J.,
Elffers H.,
Robben H. S. J.,
Webley P.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1993.tb01084.x
Subject(s) - unemployment , psychology , punishment (psychology) , social psychology , univariate , economics , statistics , mathematics , multivariate statistics , economic growth
This study explored the relationships between diverse social psychological and economic variables and self‐reported and officially documented unemployment benefit fraud. Two groups receiving unemployment benefit were studied; a fraudulent group of 45 individuals and an honest group of 51 individuals. Interview measures of financial strain, social norms, opportunity for fraud, social controls, personal strain, personal orientation, perceived risk of punishment, and intolerance of fraud were obtained. The results of univariate and regression analyses revealed that although financial strain and social norms did not differ between the two groups, the fraudulent group had more opportunity, were less well educated, were more alienated and inclined to take risks, and had more positive attitudes toward a variety of kinds of fraud.