Benefits fraud by Norwegian politicians in parliament: Convenience theory perspectives

Abstract

The theoretical goal of this article is to examine the case of a recent benefits fraud scandal among Norwegian parliamentarians, who received various payments they were not entitled to, through the lens of convenience theory. The evidence presented and evaluated comes from the report of the Norwegian auditor general’s internal investigation as well as from various media reports. Among 14 convenience propositions, evidence was found for six of them: greed, status, decay, chaos, justification, and neutralization. An important practical implication of this research is that the independent status of parliamentarians has to be addressed by new measures of guardianship, overview, and control against fraud. Generally, the violation of trust by privileged individuals elected by the people represents a threat to democracy.

Keywords

• Convenience theory
• Financial motive
• Organizational opportunity
• Deviant behavior: social status
• Legitimate access