{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]],"date-time":"2026-09-25T04:59:55Z","timestamp":1790312395635,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]],"date-time":"2026-09-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790294400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Occupational fraud is usually examined as a financial control and governance problem, but it may also be relevant to occupational and organizational health through reporting culture, perceived accountability, and workplace governance. However, this study does not measure health outcomes directly.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A cross-sectional online survey (19 items) was administered between September 2025 and February 2026 to 1,007 employed adults (Romania\u202f=\u202f407; Ukraine\u202f=\u202f350; Moldova\u202f=\u202f250). Differences among surveyed national subsamples were tested with\n                      <jats:italic>\u03c7<\/jats:italic>\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      tests (nominal items) and Kruskal-Wallis tests (ordinal items) with Holm adjustment. Covariate-adjusted ordinal and binary logistic regression models were estimated to assess whether selected fraud-related outcomes remained associated with national subsample membership after adjustment for age, gender, residence environment, organization type, and organization size. Multiple Correspondence Analysis, followed by k-means clustering, was used to explore aggregated response typologies.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Perceived fraud typology differed significantly across surveyed national subsamples (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03c7<\/jats:italic>\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      \u202f=\u202f58.16,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001; Cram\u00e9r\u2019s\n                      <jats:italic>V<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.17). Among surveyed respondents from Ukraine, higher-frequency proposals to engage in potentially fraudulent or unethical activities were more common (ITM_4, categories 3\u20135: 28.6% vs. 18.2% in Romania and 17.2% in Moldova). Personal victimization was also highest among surveyed respondents from Ukraine (14.6%), whereas indirect victimization, measured as knowing victimized colleagues, was highest among respondents from Moldova (46.4%). A two-cluster solution separated a large \u201clower-exposure\/refusal-dominant\u201d profile from a smaller \u201chigher-exposure\/non-refusal-enriched\u201d profile that was more frequent among respondents from Ukraine and Moldova. In adjusted outcome models, several contrasts persisted: respondents from Ukraine showed higher odds of fraud-related\/unethical proposal frequency, perceived workplace gift\/hospitality acceptance, and selecting no action rather than notifying management (OR\u202f=\u202f3.82, 95% CI 1.65\u20138.85), whereas respondents from the Republic of Moldova showed higher odds of personal\/indirect victimization and perceived colleague involvement.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Among surveyed respondents, exposure, reporting behavior, and informal workplace norms varied across the three national subsamples. The findings cautiously suggest that anti-fraud interventions may benefit from considering the reporting cultures and perceived exposure patterns observed in each surveyed subsample. However, because the sample was non-probabilistic and effect sizes were generally small, policy implications should be interpreted as exploratory. They should not be generalized to national populations without further representative research.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1923314","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]],"date-time":"2026-09-25T04:26:46Z","timestamp":1790310406000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Survey-based evidence on occupational fraud exposure, reporting behavior, and informal norms in Romania, Ukraine, and the Republic of Moldova"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Lucia","family":"Morosan-Danila","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, Faculty of Economics, Administration and Business, \u201cStefan cel Mare\u201d University of Suceava","place":["Suceava, Romania"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniela-Mihaela","family":"Neamtu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Management, Business Administration and Tourism, Faculty of Economics, Administration and Business, \u201cStefan cel Mare\u201d University of Suceava","place":["Suceava, Romania"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Claudia-Elena","family":"Grigoras-Ichim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, Faculty of Economics, Administration and Business, \u201cStefan cel Mare\u201d University of Suceava","place":["Suceava, Romania"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Denisa-Oana","family":"Zelinschi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Maternal and Child Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, \u201cGrigore T. Popa\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy","place":["Iasi, Romania"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","volume-title":"Occupational fraud 2022: A Report to the Nations","year":"2022"},{"key":"ref2","volume-title":"Other People\u2019s Money: a Study in the social Psychology of Embezzlement","author":"Cressey","year":"1953"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"555","DOI":"10.2308\/iace-50131","article-title":"The evolution of fraud theory","volume":"27","author":"Dorminey","year":"2012","journal-title":"Issues Account Educ"},{"key":"ref4","first-page":"38","article-title":"The fraud diamond: considering the four elements of fraud","volume":"74","author":"Wolfe","year":"2004","journal-title":"CPA J"},{"key":"ref5","first-page":"696","volume-title":"Fraud Examination","author":"Albrecht","year":"2006"},{"key":"ref6","first-page":"453","volume-title":"Fraudulent Financial Reporting: 1998\u20132007: an Analysis of US public Companies Association Sections, Divisions, Boards, Teams","author":"Beasley","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref7","first-page":"32","article-title":"The importance of the financial audit in the identification of fraud and errors recorded by companies","volume":"12","author":"Grigoras-Ichim","year":"2024","journal-title":"Eur J Account Financ Bus"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"231","DOI":"10.2308\/aud.2008.27.2.231","article-title":"Financial statement fraud: insights from the academic literature","volume":"27","author":"Hogan","year":"2008","journal-title":"Auditing J Pract Theory"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"951","DOI":"10.1177\/0149206306294258","article-title":"Behavioral ethics in organizations: a review","volume":"32","author":"Trevi\u00f1o","year":"2006","journal-title":"J Manag"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"843","DOI":"10.1177\/0018726710390536","article-title":"Understanding unethical behavior by unraveling ethical culture","volume":"64","author":"Kaptein","year":"2011","journal-title":"Hum Relat"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"39","DOI":"10.5465\/ame.2004.13837437","article-title":"Business as usual: the normalization of corruption in organizations","volume":"18","author":"Anand","year":"2004","journal-title":"Acad Manage Exec"},{"key":"ref12","first-page":"1","volume-title":"The Mind behind The Fraudsters Crime: Key Behavioral and Environmental Element","author":"Horwath","year":"2012"},{"key":"ref13","volume-title":"Occupational fraud 2024: A Report to the Nations","year":"2024"},{"key":"ref14","volume-title":"Framework for a Taxonomy of Fraud","author":"Beals","year":"2015"},{"key":"ref15","volume-title":"What Are the Most Common Asset Misappropriation Schemes and Who Are Conducting Them?","author":"Beatty","year":"2025"},{"key":"ref16","first-page":"20","article-title":"Operational steps for tax compliance","volume":"3","author":"D\u0103nescu","year":"2014","journal-title":"Audit Practices"},{"key":"ref17","first-page":"165","article-title":"Analysis of bribery fraud case and KPMG'S involvement based on fraud diamond: rolls Royce aircraft engine supply company","volume":"4","author":"Kawi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int J Arts Soc Sci"},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118269183","volume-title":"Fraud Auditing and Forensic Accounting","author":"Singleton","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref19","first-page":"52","article-title":"Fraud\u2014a permanent threat for company owners and employers","volume":"3","author":"Spiridon","year":"2014","journal-title":"Audit Practices"},{"key":"ref20","article-title":"European Parliament and Council of the European Union. 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