Microanomie as an explanation of tax fraud: A preliminary investigation

Abstract

A substantial portion of criminology research has centered on financially motivated crimes, including those characterized as white-collar. This chapter argues that understanding and preventing accounting and tax fraud can be furthered by placing the phenomenon within the context of criminology research, an area that has been explored but not embraced by accounting researchers. This chapter describes and applies one such criminological theory, microanomie (Konty, 2005), which uses cognitive measures of social values to explain criminal behavior. We report the results from a survey that identified subjects’ commitment to self-enhancing values, such as achievement and power, and to self-transcending values, such as benevolence and universalism. We found that those with an excess of self-enhancing over self-transcending values were most likely to commit tax fraud by receiving off-the-books income. Our analysis, although exploratory in nature, suggests that microanomie may be useful in explaining other types of accounting-related crimes.

Citation

Ganon, M.W. and Donegan, J.J. (2010), "Microanomie as an explanation of tax fraud: A preliminary investigation", Stock, T. (Ed.) Advances in Taxation (Advances in Taxation, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 123-143. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1058-7497(2010)0000019007