Evaluating the effectiveness of different agents of religious socialization, religiosity and other variables in preventing economic crimes in Iran

While corruption occurs in many countries it has increased in Iran in recent years. In this paper the results of the first cross-sectional study in Iran examining different correlates of white-collar crime both in private and public sectors are presented. Theoretically, the present paper is framed in competing or alternative theories of white-collar crimes including Hirschi& Stark’s theory of the fear of hell’s fire, Collins and Schmidt’s theory of personality correlates of white-collar crimes, James WilliamColeman’s sociological theory of corruption, and finally Cornish and Clark’s economic theory of white-collar crimes. In a higher level of analysis, the present paper is relied on public choice theory, which attributes the phenomenon to a lack of competition in either or both economic and political arenas. According to this theory, all else equal, greater intervention in terms of size and scope of government increases the supply of rents, and correspondingly, corrupt behavior. The data were obtained in the spring 2012 from 120 managers currently active in Iranian corporations and official departments and also 120 white-collar criminals who formerly held such positions and currently incarcerated in prisons. Participants filled out paper and pencil scales measuring some personality correlates of white-collar crimes (hedonism, narcissism, lack of behavioral self-control), motives (dealing with the crisis threatening the criminal, the family, or the company), level of religious socialization through interpersonal communication (via orientation family, close friends, schools, and community), level of religious socialization through the media (religious programs broadcast from the national radio and television broadcasting organization, books, movies and CDs), level of the individual’s religiosity, individual’s perception of the probability of being arrested, individual’s perception of the levels of criminal opportunity, and some demographic variables such as socio-economic status, age, education level. The logistic regression analysis accounted for 75 per cent of the variance between the two groups. White-collar crime in Iran is predicted by individual’s perceived risk (probability) of being caught, and individual’s perception of the levels of criminal opportunity. In sum, sociological and economic approaches and consequently institutionalism approach (and not cultureless approach) do discriminate between white-collar offenders and non-offenders.