Dishonesty, Staff Burnout, and Employee Theft

• NCJ Number: 88557
• Journal: Journal of Security Administration Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (1982) Pages: 21-36
• Author(s): J W Jones
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Presented at the 89th Annual Conference of the American Psychological Association, the Division of Industrial Psychology, Los Angeles, August 24-28, 1981

Annotation

Employee burnout and attitudes toward theft are both reliable predictors of employee theft among hospital workers.

Abstract

Eighty-nine hospital employees from two major Chicago hospitals completed instruments which measured attitudes toward theft, job burnout, and reports of thefts committed during the past 3 months. Both the theft attitudes scale and the job burnout scale scores significantly correlated with admissions of theft. Dishonest workers who were experiencing higher levels of burnout committed the more serious acts of theft. The employee thieves had more tolerant attitudes toward theft, thought more about theft, attributed more theft to others, and used more of the common rationalizations for theft than did honest employees. Employee thieves also felt more discouraged with their work, often thought about quitting, tended to experience psychological and interpersonal tension due to the pressures of work, and tended to show frustration with anger toward clients and other personnel more often than honest workers. Dishonesty tests, which are being used in preemployment interviews, can also identify current employees who are most likely to be actively involved in employee theft or who are indirectly helping employee thieves. Such tests should be validated against relevant theft criteria, however. Burnout tests can also be used to identify employees who need measures to rectify the real or perceived source of distress. Data tables, reference notes, and a list of 25 references are included. (Author abstract modified)