Question

Sarah and Rachel are good friends. Sarah is a TA for a class that Rachel is currently enrolled in and has the ability to change students' grades in the class. Rachel is struggling in the class and has started asking Sarah to change her grades in the grade book. Sarah is reluctant to help because she knows it would be wrong. What element of the fraud triangle is not contributing to Sarah's motivation to help Rachel?

1) Pressure
2) Opportunity
3) Rationalization
4) Perceived control

Answer 1

Sarah's reluctance to help Rachel with changing her grades stems from her not rationalizing the unethical behavior.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the scenario given, Sarah's reluctance to change Rachel's grades is an example of her not rationalizing the unethical behavior. Rationalization is one of the elements of the fraud triangle, which is a model used to explain the factors that contribute to fraud and unethical behavior.

The other three elements of the fraud triangle are:

• Pressure: This refers to the financial or personal stress that may motivate someone to commit fraud.
• Opportunity: This refers to the chance or ability to commit the fraudulent act.
• Perceived Control: This refers to the individual's belief that they can carry out the fraud without getting caught.

In Sarah's case, she may be facing pressure (if Rachel is pressuring her to change the grades), she has the opportunity (as a TA with the ability to change grades), but she is not rationalizing the unethical behavior, which is why she is reluctant to help Rachel.