The Role of Race and Gender in Corporate and Elite White-Collar Offending: Gender and the Theory of Racial Privilege and Offending (TRPO)

This study examines the impact of gender on corporate and elite white-collar offending within the context of the Theory of Racial Privilege and Offending (TRPO). Using a survey of over 900 individuals, each responding to three vignettes of white-collar crime scenarios, we investigate whether the role of racial privilege suggested by TRPO differs by gender, which could help explain offending differences between males and females in white-collar crime. While the findings support gender differences in the creation of broad-cognitive frameworks, and in the impact of those frames on assessing ethicality of an act and willingness to commit the act, the differences were not always in the expected direction. This suggests a need for further research to understand these differences.