Samenvatting

This article gives a report of an empirical study on business crime among small and medium sized enterprises (< 250 employees). The researchers examined 37 cases of business crime by interviewing the entrepreneurs. They were asked how the offence occurred, about their personal stake and their reflections on the interests that were impaired. Although the concept of business crime covers a huge amount of unlawful actions committed with various intentions, in the end there are three main driving forces: control, opportunity and motivation. Control refers to the entrepreneurs’ professionalism and ability to bring business processes – that can be rather complex – in line with regulations. Opportunity refers to the economic interest c.q. the (opportunity) costs of compliance. Motivation refers to the entrepreneurs’ perception of responsibility toward direct stakeholders and social values.