Skip to main content
Log in

The Relationship Between Immediate Turnover and Employee Theft in the Restaurant Industry

  • Published:
Journal of Business and Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between immediate turnover and employee theft. Study 1 examined turnover and theft data from a large fast-food chain. The results suggested a relationship between theft and turnover rates. In Study 2, a laboratory study designed to test the causation of the relationship, participants indicated that they would be more likely to steal when they were leaving in two weeks than when leaving in two years. There was no significant interaction with management control. Results suggest that managers might reduce theft by implementing specific strategies when they are aware that employees are terminating employment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Aquino, K., Griffeth, R. W., Kallen, D. G., & Hom, P. W. (1997). Integrating justice constructs into the turnover process: A test of a referent cognitions model. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 1208–1227.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrows, C. W. (1990). Employee turnover: Implications for hotel managers. FIU Hospitality Review, 8(1), 24–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bluedorn, A. C. (1982). The theories of turnover: Causes, effects, and meaning. In S. Barcharach (Ed.), Research in the sociology of organizations (Vol. 1, pp. 75–128). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boye, M. W. (1991). Self-reported employee theft and counterproductivity as a function of employee turnover antecedents. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, De Paul University, Chicago.

  • Boye, M. W., & Jones, J. W. (199). Organizational culture and employee counterproductivity. In R. A. Giacalone & Greenberg, J. (Eds.), Antisocial behavior in organizations (pp. 172–184). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  • Cantrell, N., & Sarabakhsh, M. (1991). Correlates of non-institutional food service turnover. FIU Hospitality Review, 9(2), 52–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carsten, J. M., & Spector, P. E. (1987). Unemployment, job satisfaction and employee turnover: A meta-analytic test of the Muchinsky model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, 374–381.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dienhart, J. R. (1993). Retention of fast-food restaurant employees. Hospitality & Tourism Educator, 5(3), 31–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ettorre, B. (1994). Crime and punishment: A hard look at white-collar crime. Management Review, May, 10–16.

  • Filipowski, D. (1993). HR plays a direct role in decreasing employee theft. Personnel Journal, 72(4), 88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, G. S. (1997). Occupational crime (2nd ed.). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J. (1997). The STEAL Motive: Managing the social determinants of employee theft. In R. A. Giacalone & J. Greenberg (Eds.), Antisocial behavior in organizations (pp. 85–108). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J. (1990). Employee theft as a reaction to underpayment inequity: The hidden cost of pay cuts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 561–568.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J., & Scott, K. S. (1996). Why do workers bite the hands that feed them? Employee theft as a social exchange process. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (pp. 111–156). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, R. (1984). Employee theft in the restaurant trade: Forms of ripping off by waiters at work. Deviant Behavior, 5, 47–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollinger, R. C. (1986). Acts against the workplace: Social bonding and employee deviance. Deviant Behavior, 7, 53–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollinger, R. C. (1988). Dishonesty in the workplace: A manager's guide to preventing employee theft. Park Ridge, IL: London House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollinger, R. C., & Clark, J. P. (1983). Theft by employees. Lexington Books: Lexington, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollinger, R. C., & Slora, K. B., & Terris, W. (1992). Deviance in the fast-food restaurant: Correlates of employee theft, altruism, and counter-productivity. Deviant Behavior, 13, 155–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, J. W., Ash, P., & Soto, C. (1990). Employee privacy rights and pre-employment honesty tests. Employee Relations Law Journal, 15, 561–575.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipman, M., & McGraw, W. R. (1988). Employee theft: A $40 billion industry. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 498, 51–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • London House and Food Marketing Institute. (1993). Fifth annual report on supermarket employee behavior. Rosemont, IL: London House.

    Google Scholar 

  • March, J. G., & Simon, H. A. (1958). Organizations. New York: John Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • McFillen, J. M., Riegel, C. D., & Enz, C. A. (1986). Why restaurant managers quit and how to keep them. The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 26, 37–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGraw-Hill/London House. (1995). First annual survey of restaurant and fast food employees. Rosemont, IL: McGraw-Hill/London House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miner, J. B., & Capps, M. H. (1996). How honesty testing works. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muller, C. C. (1997). Redefining value: The hamburger price war. Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 38, 62–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, K. R. (1993). Honesty in the workplace. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

    Google Scholar 

  • Papiernick, R. L. (1995). Big Mac's guns target margins to blast through burger battle. Nations Restaurant News, 29(26), 11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parilla, P. F., Hollinger, R. C., & Clark, J. P. (1988). Organizational control of deviant behavior: The case of employee theft. Social Science Quarterly, 69, 261–280.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, H. Y., Ofori-Dankwa, J., & Bishop, D. R. (1994). Organizational and environmental determinants of functional and dysfunctional turnover: Practical and research implications. Human Relations, 47(3), 353–366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slora, K. B. (1989). An empirical approach to determining employee deviance rates. Journal of Business and Psychology, 4, 199–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smigel, E. O., & Ross, H. L. (1970). Introduction. In E. O. Smigel & H. L. Ross (Eds.), Crime against bureaucracy (pp. 1–14). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, R. P., & Ovalle, N. K. (1984). A review and meta-analysis of research on the relationship between behavioral intentions and employee turnover. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 673–686.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tucker, J. (1989). Employee theft as social control. Deviant Behavior, 10, 319–334.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wasmuth, W. J., & Davis, S. W. (1983). Managing employee turnover. The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 23(1), 15–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, L. J., & Hazer, J. T. (1986). Antecedents and consequences of satisfaction and commitment in turnover models: A reanalysis using latent variable structural equation methods. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 219–231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winbush, J. C., & Dalton, D. R. (1997). Base rate for employee theft: Convergence of multiple methods. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 756–763.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods, R. H., & Macaulay, J. F. (1989). Rx for Turnover: Retention programs that work. The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 30(1), 78–90.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Thoms, P., Wolper, P., Scott, K.S. et al. The Relationship Between Immediate Turnover and Employee Theft in the Restaurant Industry. Journal of Business and Psychology 15, 561–577 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007866800248

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007866800248

Navigation