Purpose
Although fraud is widespread, little remains known about the specific psychological characteristics of fraudsters that can be used in prevention or treatment. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine the socio-emotional competencies and moral judgement abilities of convicted fraudsters in comparison with other groups of offenders.
Design/methodology/approach
The investigation included imprisoned face-to-face fraudsters (n=11), imprisoned violent offenders (n=10) and non-offenders who had completed the Emotional Competence Questionnaire and the Sociomoral Reflection Measure.
Findings
Fraudsters displayed a significantly higher capacity to recognise emotions in others compared with the other two groups. In addition, there were no differences in socio-emotional skills between the groups. In terms of moral judgement ability, fraudsters and non-offenders demonstrated a level of a mature moral judgement. The moral judgement abilities of the violent offenders were significantly lower.
Practical implications
Therapeutic work with fraudsters should focus on the awareness and sense of responsibility for fellow human beings having regard to their specific self-image and justification schemes. For prevention, an adoption of a structural orientation of work processes, that is, geared more towards teamwork is recommended. Moreover, a positive impact of unethical management on the risk of fraud offenses is pointed out.
Originality/value
This paper follows an innovative methodological approach by examining the socio-emotional competencies and moral judgement abilities of convicted fraudsters and has implications for risk management both therapeutically and organisationally.
ObjectiveThe Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) is commonly used, but its factor structure remains unclear. The MFI-20 consists of five subscales (general fatigue, physical fatigue, reduced activity, reduced motivation, and mental fatigue). This study investigates the psychometric properties, including the factor structure, of a general German population sample and tests group hypotheses on gender and age. Another objective is to provide normative data by gender and age groups.MethodsUsing data from a representative German sample (n=2,509), reliability and convergent validity measures, group hypothesis testing, and confirmatory/exploratory factor analyses were conducted.ResultsThe MFI-20 demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and showed adequate convergent validity with the SF-36. All subscales of the MFI-20 were significantly correlated (0.71–0.85). Physical fatigue exhibited the highest (0.42) and mental fatigue had the lowest (0.19) correlation with age. Fatigue scores were significantly higher for women and significantly increased with age. A five-factor structure showed poor model fit; using an exploratory factor analysis, a two-factor structure emerged (a general factor and a mental/motivational factor).ConclusionThe MFI-20 is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring fatigue in the general population, but the five-factor structure is not supported. The subscale general fatigue or the MFI-20 total score might measure fatigue sufficiently. The provided norms can be used for further research and individual assessment.
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