Time Theft in Organizations: The development of the Time Banditry Questionnaire

• Published in: International journal of selection and assessment 2013-09, Vol.21 (3), p.309-321
• Main Authors: Brock, Meagan E., Martin, Laura E., Buckley, M. Ronald
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Human resource management; Questionnaires; Studies; Time management
• ISSN: 0965-075X; 1468-2389
• DOI: 10.1111/ijsa.12040

Time banditry has recently been introduced as a conceptually distinct construct in the counterproductive work behavior literature. An employee is engaged in time banditry if s/he pursues unsanctioned and/or unethical nonwork activities during work time. An analysis of the time banditry construct would be facilitated by the rigorous development of a measure of this construct. The purpose of this research was to develop and refine a multidimensional measure of time banditry. Items were generated through an extensive literature review and numerous workplace discussions with a diverse sample of employees. Through this process, we developed a 45‐item time banditry scale (Time Banditry Questionnaire; TBQ) and utilized it with a diverse sample. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the construct of time banditry is multidimensional, exhibiting three distinct factors (classic, technology, and social). The TBQ demonstrated an internal consistency reliability of .90. Implications for the use of the TBQ in future research and application in organizations are discussed. The most salient suggestion in this study is that time banditry is more closely related to situational variables and personality variables than it is related to demographic variables.