Employee theft costs North American business $40 to $200 billion per annum. Moreover, 10 to 30 percent of all U.S. bankruptcies are a direct result of employee theft. In addition, employee involvement in theft at the workplace has been shown to range between 30 to 90 percent. A review of the literature demonstrates that the variables related to social control (ie., formal, informal), job dissatisfaction, opportunity, no fear of detection or a lack of consequences, youth and the ability to rationalize one's behaviour are correlated with the problem of employee theft. A case study was undertaken at one of Canada's Crown Corporations. A select sample of forty workers responded to a questionnaire regarding participation in employee theft. Eighty-six percent of the sample openly admitted committing one hundred and seventy-five thefts per month. Using a Pearson's correlation, the variables of job dissatisfaction and gender (males committed more theft than females) were associated with employee theft. In addition, rationalizing one's behaviour was found to be an important factor. Finally, pre- and post-employment strategies for controlling the problem of employee theft were discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/10884 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Leger, Claude L. |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 119 p. |
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