**5. Conclusion**

To conclude, the three key features of the American Dream theory – Intense emphasis on monetary success, Corporate executives exploit/disregard regulatory controls, and Corporate executives justify/rationalize fraudulent behavior – have their institutional underpinnings in the capitalist economy of the United States. What is distinctive about the capitalist economy of the United States, however, is the exaggerated emphasis on monetary success, which overwhelms other corporate goals and becomes the principal measuring rod for success. The resulting proclivity and pressures to perform induce corporate executives to exploit rules and regulations that stand in the way of corporate success, and at the same time provides rationalization for their non-compliance with rules and regulations. We believe the exaggerated emphasis on monetary success incorporated in American Dream will continue to be a catalyst for fraud by corporate executives in the United States. As such, we wrote this paper to provoke thoughts on corporate executive fraud in American society and to stimulate further empirical research on social variables of executive fraud.
