Telecom/Cyber Victimization in China: a Test of Routine Activity Theory among Chinese College Students

• In Event: Victimization and Organizational Justice in China

Abstract

The current study investigates telecom/fraud in China, a country with the world’s largest number of Internet users and the world’s largest ecommerce market. Analyzing survey data from 1,035 college students in China, the current study seeks to explore whether findings from previous studies on routine activity theory and telecom/cyber fraud can be generalized to the Chinese context where ecommerce sales has surpassed traditional retail sales, and whether routine activity theory can adequately explain completed telecom/cyber fraud victimization, as opposed to simply being targeted for victimization, among college students. Finally, this study also included elements from other theoretical frameworks such as self-control to assess the explanatory power of routine activity theory vis-à-vis other conceptual frameworks

Authors

• Kai Lin, California State University, Sacramento

• Ivan Sun, University of Delaware

• Yuning Lu Wu, Wayne State University

• Qu Lu Jia, Guizhou University of Finance and Economics