A cognitive model for understanding fraudulent behavior in construction industry

Purpose Previous fraud studies focused on the influence of external environmental factors rather than the actor's own cognition or psychological factors. This paper aims to explore the influence of cognitive factors on people's intention to commit fraud in the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach A scenario-based questionnaire survey was conducted with 248 Chinese construction practitioners. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. Findings The findings showed that perceived threat possibility and perceived threat severity positively affected people's attitudes towards fraud. The reward for compliance and response cost had adverse effects on people's attitudes. Attitude towards fraud and response efficacy directly influenced people's intentions to commit fraud. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this study are that only behavioral intention data were collected, and a single scenario was designed. Despite these limitations, this study proposed a cognitive model to understand fraud in the construction industry and provided an empirical analysis using data from Chinese construction practitioners. Originality/value This study reveals the impact of cognitive factors on fraud in the construction industry. The results expand the understanding of fraud and propose a cognitive intervention framework to reduce fraud.