Abstract
Organizations have long struggled to find ways to reduce the occurrence of unethical behaviors by employees. Unfortunately, time theft, a common and costly form of ethical misconduct at work, has been understudied by ethics researchers. In order to remedy this gap in the literature, we used the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to investigate the antecedents of time theft, which includes behaviors such as arriving later to or leaving earlier from work than scheduled, taking additional or longer breaks than is acceptable, and on-the-job daydreaming. We surveyed 135 employed undergraduate business students regarding the TPB variables at Time 1. Two months later, participants reported the frequency they engaged in time theft since Time 1. Results indicate that behavioral, normative, and control beliefs significantly predicted attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, respectively. Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, in turn, were significantly related to time theft intentions, which predicted later enactment of time theft. Thus, employers can decrease time theft by primarily focusing on altering employees’ attitudes toward time theft, followed by reducing social pressures to engage in it, and lastly, by implementing organizational practices that make it difficult to commit time theft.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ajzen, I.: 1985, ‘From Intentions to Actions: A Theory of Planned Behavior’. in: J. Kuhl and J. Beckmann (eds.) Action Control: From Cognition to Behavior. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 11-39.
Ajzen, I.: 1991, ‘The Theory of Planned Behavior’, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 50, 179-211.
Ajzen, I.: 2002, ‘Perceived Behavioral Control, Self-efficacy, Locus of Control, and the Theory of Planned Behavior’, Journal of Applied Social Psychology 32, 665-683.
Ajzen, I. and M. Fishbein: 1980, Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior, (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).
Ajzen, I. and T. J. Madden: 1986, ‘Prediction of Goal-directed Behavior: Attitudes, Intentions, and Perceived Behavioral Control’, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 22, 453-474.
Arbuckle, J. L. and W. Wothke: 1996, Amos 4.0 User’s Guide, (SmallWaters Corporation, Chicago, IL).
Armitage, C. J. and M. Conner: 1999, ‘Predictive Validity of the Theory of Planned Behaviour: The Role of Questionnaire Format and Social Desirability’, Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 9, 261-272.
Armitage, C. J. and M. Conner: 2001, ‘Efficacy of the Theory of Planned Behaviour: A Meta-analytic Review’, British Journal of Social Psychology 40, 471-499.
Bandura, A.: 1990, ‘Selective Activation and Disengagement of Moral Control’, Journal of Social Issues 46, 27-46.
Beck, L. and I. Ajzen: 1991, ‘Predicting Dishonest Actions Using the Theory of Planned Behavior’, Journal of Research in Personality 25, 285-301.
Becker, T. E., D. M. Randall and C. D. Riegel: 1995, ‘The Multidimensional View of Commitment and the Theory of Reasoned Action: A Comparative Evaluation’, Journal of Management 21, 617-638.
Bennett, R. J. and S. L. Robinson: 2000, ‘The Development of a Measure of Workplace Deviance’, Journal of Applied Psychology 85, 349-360.
Bennett, R. J. and S. L. Robinson: 2003, ‘The Past, Present and Future of Deviance Research’, in J. Greenberg (ed.), Organizational Behavior: The State of the Science, (Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ), pp. 247-281.
Bentler, P. M.: 1990, ‘Comparative Fit Indexes in Structural Models’, Psychological Bulletin 107, 238-246.
Bentler, P. M. and D. G. Bonett: 1980, ‘Significance Tests and Goodness of Fit in the Analysis of Covariance Structures’, Psychological Bulletin 88, 588-606.
Boye, M. W. and K. B. Slora: 1993, ‘The Severity and Prevalence of Deviant Employee Activity within Supermarkets’, Journal of Business and Psychology 8, 245-253.
Browne, M. W. and R. Cudeck: 1992, ‘Alternative Ways of Assessing Model Fit’, Sociological Methods and Research 21, 230-258.
Carpenter, T. D. and J. L. Reimers: 2005, ‘Unethical and Fraudulent Financial Reporting: Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior’, Journal of Business Ethics 60, 115-129.
Chen, Y. J. and T. L. P. Tang: 2006, ‘Attitude Toward and Propensity to Engage in Unethical Behavior: Measurement Invariance across Major among University Students’, Journal of Business Ethics 69, 77-93.
Cherry, J.: 2006, ‘The Impact of Normative Influence and Locus of Control on Ethical Judgments and Intentions: A Cross Cultural-Comparison’, Journal of Business Ethics 68, 113-132.
Colquitt, J. A. and C. P. Zapata-Phelan: 2007, ‘Trends in Theory Building and Theory Testing: A Five-Decade Study of the Academy of Management Journal’, Academy of Management Journal 50, 1281-1303.
Fishbein, M. and I. Ajzen: 1975, Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research. (Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA).
Foust, M. S., J. D. Elicker and P. E. Levy: 2006, ‘Development and Validation of a Measure of an Individual’s Lateness Attitude’, Journal of Vocational Behavior 69, 119-133.
Fox, S., P. E. Spector, A. Goh and K. Bruursema: 2007, ‘Does Your Coworker Know What You’re Doing? Convergence of Self- and Peer-Reports of Counterproductive Work Behavior’, International Journal of Stress Management 14, 41-60.
Gellatly, I. R.: 1995, ‘Individual and Group Determinants of Employee Absenteeism: Test of a Causal Model’, Journal of Organizational Behavior 16, 469-485.
Gentry, C. R.: 2005, ‘Watching the Store’, Chain Store Age 81, 62.
Glomb, T. M. and H. Liao: 2003, ‘Interpersonal Aggression in Work Groups: Social Influence, Reciprocal, and Individual Effects’, Academy of Management Journal 46, 486-496.
Greenberg, J.: 1997, ‘A Social Influence Model of Employee Theft: Beyond the Fraud Triangle’, in R. J. Lewicki, R. J. Bies and B. H. Sheppard (eds.), Research on Negotiation in Organizations, Vol. 6 (JAI Press, Greenwich, CT), pp. 29-52.
Greenberg, J.: 2002, ‘Who Stole the Money and When? Individual and Situational Determinants of Employee Theft’, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 89, 985-1003.
Greenberg, J. and K. S. Scott: 1996, ‘Why do Workers Bite the Hands that Feed Them? Employee Theft as a Social Exchange Process’. In: B. M. Staw and L. L. Cummings (eds.) Research in Organizational Behavior Vol. 18 (JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, pp. 111-156).
Hofmann, E., E. Hoelzl and E. Kirchler: 2008, ‘A Comparison of Models Describing the Impact of Moral Decision Making on Investment Decisions’, Journal of Business Ethics 82, 171-187.
Hollinger, R. C. and J. P. Clark: 1982, ‘Formal and Informal Social Controls of Employee Deviance’, The Sociological Quarterly 23, 333-343.
Hollinger, R. C. and J. P. Clark: 1983, ‘Deterrence in the Workplace: Perceived Certainty, Perceived Severity, and Employee Theft’, Social Forces 62, 398-418.
How Much Can You Save with Automated Time and Attendance?: 2006, Contractor’s Business Management Report 6(1), 11–14
Hsu, M. H. and F. Y. Kuo: 2003, ‘The Effect of Organization-Based Self-Esteem and Deindividuation in Protecting Personal Information Privacy’, Journal of Business Ethics 42, 305-320.
Hu, L. and P. M. Bentler: 1998, ‘Fit Indices in Covariance Structure Modeling: Sensitivity to Underparameterized Model Misspecification’, Psychological Methods 3, 424-453.
Hu, L. and P. M. Bentler: 1999, ‘Cutoff Criteria for Fit Indexes in Covariance Structure Analysis: Conventional Criteria versus New Alternatives’, Structural Equation Modeling 6, 1-55.
Iverson, R. D. and S. J. Deery: 2001, ‘Understanding the “Personological” Basis of Employee Withdrawal: The Influence of Affective Disposition on Employee Tardiness, Early Departure, and Absenteeism’, Journal of Applied Psychology 86, 856-866.
Jamal, M.: 1984, ‘Job Stress and Job Performance Controversy: An Empirical Assessment’, Organizational Behavior & Human Performance 33, 1-21.
Kamp, J. and P. Brooks: 1991, ‘Perceived Organizational Climate and Employee Counterproductivity’, Journal of Business & Psychology 5, 447-458.
Koslowsky, M.: 2000, ‘A New Perspective on Employee Lateness’, Applied Psychology: An International Review 49, 390-407.
Koslowsky, M., A. Sagie, M. Krausz and A. D. Singer: 1997, ‘Correlates of Employee Lateness: Some Theoretical Considerations’, Journal of Applied Psychology 82, 79-88.
Lee, R. M.: 1993, Doing Research on Sensitive Topics, (Sage Publications, London).
Louis, M. R.: 1980, ‘Surprise and Sense Making: What Newcomers Experience in Entering Unfamiliar Organizational Settings’, Administrative Science Quarterly 25, 226-251.
Luna-Arocas, R. and T. L. P. Tang: 2004, ‘The Love of Money, Satisfaction, and the Protestant Work Ethic: Money Profiles Among University Professors in the U.S.A. and Spain’, Journal of Business Ethics 50, 329–354.
MacCallum, R.: 1998, ‘Commentary on Quantitative Methods in I-O Research’, The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist 35, 19–30.
MacCallum, R. C., M. W. Browne and H. M. Sugawara: 1996, ‘Power Analysis and Determination of Sample Size for Covariance Structure Modeling’, Psychological Methods 1, 130-149.
Marsh, H. W., J. R. Balla and K. T. Hau: 1996, ‘An Evaluation of Incremental Fit Indices: A Clarification of Mathematical and Empirical Properties’, in G. A. Marcoulides and R. E. Schumacker (eds.), Advanced Structural Equation Modeling: Issues and Techniques, (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ), pp. 315–353.
Martocchio, J. J.: 1992, ‘The Financial Cost of Absence Decisions’, Journal of Management 18, 133-152.
McGee, M. K. and M. Fillon: 1995, ‘Honesty is Still the Best Policy’, Information Week 519, 156.
Medsker, G. J., L. J. Williams and P. J. Holahan: 1994, ‘A Review of Current Practices for Evaluating Causal Models in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management Research’, Journal of Management 20, 439–464.
Ng, T. W. H. and D. C. Feldman: 2008, ‘The Relationship of Age to Ten Dimensions of Job Performance’, Journal of Applied Psychology 93, 392-423.
Podsakoff, P.M., S. B. MacKenzie, J. Lee and N. P. Podsakoff: 2003, ‘Common Method Biases in Behavioral Research: A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommended Remedies’, Journal of Applied Psychology 88, 879-903.
Pomeroy, A.: 2007, ‘Corporate Ethics Affect Employee Productivity’, HRMagazine 52 (7), 16.
Robinson, S. L. and R. J. Bennett: 1995, ‘A Typology of Deviant Workplace Behaviors: A Multidimensional Scaling Study’, Academy of Management Journal 38, 555-572.
Robinson, S. L. and A. M. O’Leary-Kelly: 1998, ‘Monkey See, Monkey Do: The Influence of Work Groups on the Antisocial Behavior of Employees’, Academy of Management Journal 47, 658-672.
Slora, K. B.: 1989, ‘An Empirical Approach to Determining Employee Deviance Base Rates’, Journal of Business and Psychology 4, 199-219.
Spector, P. E.: 1992, ‘A Consideration of the Validity and Meaning of Self-Report Measures of Job Conditions’. In: C. L. Cooper and I. T. Robertson (editor), International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Wiley, New York), pp. 123-155.
Steiger, J. H. and J. M. Lind: 1980, ‘Statistically Based Tests for the Number of Common Factors’, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychometric Society (Iowa City, IA)
Tang, T. L. and Y. Chen: 2008, ‘Intelligence Vs. Wisdom: The Love of Money, Machiavellianism, and Unethical Behavior across College Major and Gender’, Journal of Business Ethics 82, 1-26.
Tomlinson, E. C. and J. Greenberg: 2005, ‘Discouraging Theft by Managing Social Norms and Promoting Organizational Justice’, in R. E. Kidwell and C. L. Martin (eds.), Managing Organizational Deviance, (Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA), pp. 211-233.
Tucker, L. R. and C. Lewis: 1973, ‘A Reliability Coefficient for Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis’, Psychometrika 38, 1-10.
Uddin, N. and P. R. Gillett: 2002, ‘The Effects of Moral Reasoning and Self-Monitoring on CFO Intentions to Report Fraudulently on Financial Statements’, Journal of Business Ethics 10, 15-32.
Vardi, Y. and E. Weitz: 2002, ‘Using the Theory of Reasoned Action to Predict Organizational Misbehavior’, Psychological Reports 91, 1027-1040.
Victor, B. and J. B. Cullen: 1988, ‘The Organizational Bases for Ethical Work Climates’, Administrative Science Quarterly 333, 101-125.
Wanberg, C. R., T. M. Glomb, Z. Song and S. Sorenson: 2005, ‘Job-search Persistence during Unemployment: A 10-wave Longitudinal Study’, Journal of Applied Psychology 90, 411-430.
Weaver, G. R., L. K. Treviño and P. L. Cochran: 1999, ‘Corporate Ethics Programs as Control Systems: Influences of Executive Commitment and Environmental Factors’, Academy of Management Journal 42, 41-57.
Widaman, K. F. and S. P. Reise: 1997, ‘Exploring the Measurement Invariance of Psychological Instruments: Applications in the Substance Use Domain’, in K. J. Bryant, M. Windle, and S. G. West (eds.), The Science of Prevention: Methodological Advances from Alcohol and Substance Abuse Research, (American Psychological Association, Washington, DC), pp. 281–324.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Henle, C.A., Reeve, C.L. & Pitts, V.E. Stealing Time at Work: Attitudes, Social Pressure, and Perceived Control as Predictors of Time Theft. J Bus Ethics 94, 53–67 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0249-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0249-z