The effect of morality and Machiavellianism on government fraud: The moderating role of education

Abstract

The high number of fraud cases in governments has increasingly become a concern among academics and practitioners. Many approaches can be used to minimize fraud cases. However, the role of education in the influence of personality on fraud in the Indonesian government has not been considered. Thus, this study aims to analyze the influence of morality and Machiavellianism as personality factors leading to fraud. Education was tested as a moderating variable. This quantitative study involved a sample of Pekanbaru City government officials. To collect data, questionnaires were sent directly to the respondents. Through the purposive sampling technique, 251 samples were collected. A structural equation with partial least squares was used to test the hypotheses. The test results show that all the proposed hypotheses are accepted. Morality affects fraud with a p-value < 0.001, less than 0.05. Machiavellianism affects fraud with a p-value < 0.001. Education moderates the relationship between morality and fraud with a p-value of 0.048, less than 0.05. Moreover, education moderates the relationship between Machiavellianism and fraud with a p-value < 0.001, less than 0.05. In conclusion, this study contributes to shaping government officials’ behavior to prevent fraud. Character building and high education standards for officials must be integrated to reduce the risk of abuse in Indonesian government.

Keywords

• education
• fraud
• government
• Machiavellianism
• morality