Skip to main content
Log in

Professional Identity and Dishonest Behavior

  • Social Science and Public Policy
  • Published:
Society Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This essay discusses the fraud triangle, or how factors such as opportunity to cheat, motivation to cheat or ability to rationalize or justify dishonest behavior lead to dishonesty. The fraud triangle is applied on behavior of professionals active in fields such as medicine, education, research and science or clergy. Evidence shows that even in these fields, which attract more altruistic individuals, the fraud triangle factors predicts emergence of behavior in breach of ethical standards. In the conclusion several measures for reducing dishonesty are discussed. Disciplines such as forensic economics or behavioral ethics are emphasized to provide wider variety of tools to detect and reduce dishonest behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Further Reading

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Petr Houdek.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Houdek, P. Professional Identity and Dishonest Behavior. Soc 54, 253–260 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-017-0132-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-017-0132-y

Keywords

Navigation