Economic performance and corporate structure: an analysis of corporate crime causation

The objective of this study was to assess the affect of economic performance, relative performance and corporate structure on the frequency of corporate crime. The data utilized in this study were obtained from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research and were originally collected by Marshall Clinard and Peter Yeager (1979). In addition to this data source, disaggregated economic data were collected in order to assess the volatility of economic performance for the corporations in the study. The collected data were then merged with the existing data set using the corporate identification numbers provided with an agreement of anonymity. Pearsons's r was used to assess the zero-order relationships among all the variables in the analysis. A series of T-tests were also performed to examine whether offending corporations had significantly lower economic performance measures than did their non-offending counterparts. Finally, multiple regression techniques were utilized to assess the predictive capability of economic performance and corporate structure on corporate offending. The bivariate analysis showed little correlation among the economic performance variables and the total and total serious violation categories. Concentration and diversification were significantly correlated with the violation categories. Diversification was also found to be highly correlated in a negative direction with all of the volatility measures. Similar results were found when analyzing the relative performance measures. When comparing the mean economic scores of offending and non-offending corporations, mean performance was generally lower among offending corporations. Offending corporations, however, were shown to experience less economic volatility than their non-offending counterparts. With respect to relative performance, offending corporations were found to have lower mean economic performance measures than non-offending firms. However, offenders were found to be less volatile relative to their industry than non-offenders. The regression analysis revealed a positive relationship with the trend of profit and a negative relationship with volatility of profit, both contradict theoretical expectations. In addition, the structural variables were found to be positively related to corporate violations, but they had little mediational effect with respect to the economic variables, as hypothesized. Based on the findings of this study, the limitations and implication for an economic explanation of corporate offending are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology

Department dc:contributor.department

Sociology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1989

Author dc:creator

• Keyser, John G.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/94508

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/94508