Disentangling the motivations for organizational insider computer abuse through the rational choice and life course perspectives

Criminal organizational insider computer abuse (ICA) research has focused on factors that influence either ICA intentions, or actual behavior during the ICA process. However, we argue that this research has not correctly conceptualized the decision-making processes involved in ICA. Thus, our first aim is to demonstrate this opportunity by leveraging the rational choice perspective (RCP) from criminology. The RCP advances an"event" stage, in which choices are made leading up to and during the criminal act. However, the RCP also acknowledges a preceding"initial involvement" stage, which encompasses those factors that lead an individual to consider participation in crime. RCP explains that if, during the initial involvement stage, an individual becomes motivated and decides that future criminal behavior is the most suitable course of action, then he or she will have reached a state of"readiness." It is only after an individual has become readied, and at a later time, does the individual make event decisions in the perpetration of a specific crime. Consequently, extant ICA research has overlooked consideration of why-prior to the crime-an individual initially considers engaging in such criminal activity in the first instance. Notably, this consideration should not to be conflated with intentions. We argue that there needs to be a clear distinction between those motivational factors that would lead to the consideration of such engagement at the initial involvement stage, and those factors that would lead an individual at the event stage to perpetrate a crime. We thus propose a revised version of the extended security action cycle (ESAC), which reflects these criminal decision-making stages. Moreover, we provide a means through which to identify and understand the relationship among those factors that may motivate an individual during the initial involvement stage by drawing on the life course perspective (LCP). With a focus on time, context, and process, the LCP offers a framework in which four key principles are inscribed. Through examples drawn from the LCP and white-collar crime literature, we illustrate how these principles can provide a basis for conceptualizing factors that motivate ICA and open up new avenues for future research/theory development.