How to Reduce Time Theft Behavior in Telework: A Moral Self-Regulation Perspective

Abstract

Despite the growing prevalence of telework in the workplace, the impact of telework extent on deviant workplace behaviors, especially time theft, has received scant research attention. Notwithstanding common assumptions, Microsoft and Ctrip have demonstrated in practice that telework does not necessarily lead to time theft among teleworkers. Inspired by these insights, the current research leverages the theoretical perspective of moral self-regulation, proposing that telework extent threatens moral justification and displacement of responsibility, thereby reducing time theft behavior. The strength of these above indirect effects is contingent upon the key individual moral trait of teleworkers, namely moral attentiveness. This moderated mediation model is validated through a three-wave study involving a sample of 304 teleworkers. Implications of how telework extent influences time theft behaviors from the moral self-regulation perspective are discussed.