A Review of Literature and Experimental Evidence on Fraud Motivation: Differentiating Incentive and Pressure

Abstract

This study reviews academic and professional literature on the two types of fraud motivation: incentive and pressure, and provides an in-depth analysis to investigate and differentiate incentive and pressure. The evolution of the professional standards on fraud reveals the need to differentiate incentive and pressure to mitigate fraud. A comprehensive review of academic research uncovers a plethora of fraud research that has studied incentive and pressure either discretely or without differentiation. Few studies have focused on examining and comparing them simultaneously. Theoretically grounded in the fraud triangle and motivation literature, this study synthesizes prior research on incentive and pressure, analyzes the differences by levels of autonomy and regulation. An experiment was conducted and results reveal that incentive and pressure differ in their role in influencing fraudulent intention. Incentive appears to be stronger in influencing fraud intention than pressure. We present the research implications and outline an agenda for future research.