A/L Durairaja, Shankar
(2020)
White collar crime predispositions among public groups in Malaysia.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
White collar crime can be labelled as a unique kind of crime because of the absence
of any type of physical violence. The focus area of this criminology research is to study
the predispositions of white collar crime among public groups in Malaysia. This study was
based on criminological and psychological perspectives. The main aim of this study was
to investigate the psychological, strain, and criminogenic characteristics that can lead to
white collar crime among public groups in Malaysia. Five specific objectives were
formulated. This study was divided into three stages. Firstly, to obtain epidemiological
knowledge related to the main study trend analyses were performed to explore and
document the trends and patterns of commercial crimes in Malaysia for the period of 18
years (2001-2018) and corruption for the period of seven years (2012-2018). Secondly, a
validation study was conducted to test the compatibility, validity, and reliability of the
items were tested in the Malay WCC Predispositions Battery (M-WCCPB) which consists
of Malay translated 16 Personality Factors Questionnaire (16PF), Psychological Inventory
of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS), Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM), and
Chronic Stress Scale (CSS). Lastly, the main study was conducted by utilising a
descriptive quantitative method that made use of the deductive approach based on the
positivist philosophy. A guided self-administered psychometric battery (Malay WCCP
Battery (M-WCCPB)) was employed for data collection. The M-WCCPB consisted of
sociodemographic variables, and four Malay validated psychometric instruments. Thetotal of 274 white collar professionals and blue collar workers were recruited in this study
through purposive sampling. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and
inferential statistics. Out of 28 subdomains, only ten subdomains recorded significant
differences. The association of selected traits representing Domain A (Personality Traits)
and Domain B (Criminal Thinking Styles) and Domain C (Psychopathic Traits) appear to
be pertinent for BCW, however these same straits were shown not to be significantly
associated with either Domain B or Domain C in the WCP group. The present study only
able to recruit 274 white collar professionals and bluecollar workers as the sample of study
due to few limitations, therefore it was not meant to generalise the results to the working
population in Malaysia. However, the significant findings of this study can be adapted by
policymakers, and many governments and non-government agencies to design a better
evidenced based hiring practices, and proactive white collar or commercial crime
prevention.
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