Employee perceptions of climate as an antecedent of time banditry in the workplace

Time banditry has recently been introduced as a distinct construct in the organizational behavior literature. An employee is engaged in time banditry when he or she pursues nontask-related activities during work time (i.e., chatting with a co-worker or surfing the web). This study examines the novel concept of time banditry and the impact of climate on its prevalence in the workplace. Climate is a direct reflection of how employees feel about where they work, and is postulated to have a direct effect on engagement in time banditry behaviors. Results provide evidence that employee perceptions of process, policies, and satisfaction as they relate to the job climate are positively related to engagement in time banditry. Thus, when climates promote positive feelings at the job level, employees actually engage in more time banditry behavior. However, no significant relationship was found between time banditry and climate perceptions at the team or the organizational level.