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- Title
Does it matter whether others are working hard or hardly working? Effects of descriptive norms on attitudes to time theft at work.
- Authors
Sinclair, Samantha
- Abstract
Time theft—time that employees waste or spend not working during their scheduled work hours—poses serious costs to many employers. Although previous research has suggested the importance of social norms for understanding time theft behavior, experimental studies are lacking. This paper presents the results of two preregistered experiments that examined if information about whether most people engage in time theft or not (descriptive norms) has effects on intentions and attitudes to steal time at work. The results confirmed that people are less willing to conduct time theft if they are led to believe that others avoid such behaviors (Experiment 1, N = 170). However, the same norm information did not alter people's moral judgments of coworkers who engage in time theft (Experiment 2, N = 183). The findings tentatively suggest that the less time theft employees see, the less time theft they will commit. Practitioner points: Previous research has not examined whether information about what other people do influences employee's intentions to commit time theft at work.The results show that employees may be less willing to conduct time theft (e.g., to engage in unsanctioned activities) if they believe that others avoid such behaviors.This tentatively suggests that the less time theft employees observe, the less time theft they will commit.
- Subjects
SOCIAL norms; EMPLOYEE theft; THEFT; MORAL judgment; COUNTERPRODUCTIVITY (Labor)
- Publication
International Journal of Selection & Assessment, 2024, Vol 32, Issue 1, p12
- ISSN
0965-075X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/ijsa.12445