Investigating the Antecedents of Time Banditry: Climate, Personality, and Commitment

Abstract

Time banditry has recently been introduced as a distinct construct in the counterproductive work behavior literature. An employee is engaged in time banditry when he or she pursues non-task related activities during work time, whether they are positive or negative (i.e., helping a co-worker or surfing the web). Two studies were conducted to explore situational and dispositional antecedents of time banditry, frequency of time banditry on a daily basis, cognitive rationalizations for misuse of time, and factors that contribute to the classification of time bandit type. Hierarchical linear modeling and discriminant function analysis were used to answer many questions with regards to time banditry. Situational variables such as job climate, and job stressors were found to explain variance in time banditry scores. Further, dispositional variables were shown to both mediate and moderate the job stressor-time banditry relationship. Finally, classification results revealed that both situational and dispositional variables can be used to predict time bandit type. Suggestions for future research and implications for managing time banditry are discussed.