Ethical leadership and crime prevention in the organizational setting

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show the qualitative shift from a “traditional way”, to understand the conditioning factors of corporate crime to a “principled” approach.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper analyzes the conditioning factors elaborated by the traditional approach and the basic crime prevention strategies that followed from such an approach; also, the basic concepts of the “principled” approach are analyzed as they give a qualitatively new understanding of crime prevention strategies.

Findings

The paper finds that a qualitative shift emerged from 1990 to 2006, insofar as the basic conditioning factors have substantially been modified (the “principled approach”). The most relevant concepts for crime prevention are now national culture, transformational leadership, moral courage and organizational transparency.

Originality/value

The paper presents a principled approach to crime prevention strategies as adding relevant ideas and concepts to the traditional approach.

Citation

Dion, M. (2008), "Ethical leadership and crime prevention in the organizational setting", Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 308-319. https://doi.org/10.1108/13590790810882892