A Study On The Motivation Of Time Theft

Employee time theft is very common in organizations.However,employees’ time theft motives have been largely ignored both in academia and in practice.Studying the motives of time theft can help managers better understand the complex motivational mechanisms underlying this behavior and develop more effective management strategies.Therefore,this paper explores the motivation of employees to engage in time theft,and whether time theft will have different effects under different motivation.Specifically,using qualitative research,Study 1(n=199)explored and summarized 13 types of employees’ motives for time theft,and proposed a two-dimension motivation classification framework of goal orientation(self-oriented,other-oriented and workoriented)and initiative(proactive and responsive).Study 2(n=287)adopted a scenariobased experiment approach and found that time theft behaviors driven by self-oriented motivation(such as relieving boredom or discomfort)had negative impact on employees’ work effort and organizational citizenship behavior by reducing employees’ perceived obligations to the organization.In contrast,time theft driven by workoriented motivation(such as promoting work efficiency)reduced employees’ work stress;time theft driven by or other-oriented motivation(such as responding to others’ requests)had positive impact on employees’ work effort and organizational citizenship behavior by increasing employees’ guilt.This research contributes to the research on time theft and workplace deviant behaviors,and also prompts managers to fully consider employees’ motivation when paying attention to employees’ time theft behavior,and adopt differential actions in managing time theft.