Predicting Employees' Theft in Home Improvement Centers

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Abstract
An 8-mo. predictive validity study in 8 home improvement centers showed that 86 employees' attitudes and cognitions toward theft reliably predicted future theft and counterproductivity. Employees with dishonest attitudes and cognitions toward theft, as measured by the Personnel Selection Inventory, were rated by store managers as having committed significantly more counterproductive acts during the 8-mo. period than employees with more honest attitudes/cognitions toward theft. In addition, other significant findings showed that the home improvement centers with both the worst lumber inventory figures and the most instances of reported internal theft were staffed by a greater percentage of employees who did poorly on the dishonesty test. These findings were discussed.