NCJ Number
140373
Date Published
1992
Length
22 pages
Annotation
White-collar crime is examined in terms of the relationships between organizational forces and individual choices in organizational misconduct, with emphasis on the refinement and use of a particular theory in analyses of three examples of organizational misconduct, especially the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the space shuttle Challenger accident.
Abstract
The theory combined case data from research on Medicaid fraud with existing theory and research on complex organizations and on deviance and social control. The theory's major elements are the competitive environment, organizational characteristics, and the regulatory environment. This theory is being applied to analyze the three cases, which vary regarding the size, complexity, and function of the organization involved. The findings from the NASA case confirm the potential of theory elaboration to generate new insights. The case reveals that autonomy and interdependence undermined safety regulation by a government agency and also shows how the social control capabilities were eroded. The case and the others being studied also show how to proceed toward a general theory by studying misconduct in different types of organizations. Notes and 57 references