Hardly working or working hard? The moderating effect of work ethic on the interpersonal justice to time banditry relationship

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of interpersonal justice perceptions on employee engagement in the three factors of time banditry (classical, technology, and social). In addition, the moderating role of work ethic on the interpersonal justice to time banditry relationship was investigated. Social exchange theory was used to explain why employees might engage in time banditry activities as a result of their interpersonal justice perceptions. A Qualtrics panel was used to collect data via a self-report survey questionnaire using established scales. The sample consisted of 172 individuals employed full-time in hourly paid positions across various industries. An empirical analysis was performed using SPSS Process. Findings of this study confirm the previously proposed negative relationship between interpersonal justice and the three individual factors of time banditry. However, work ethic was only found to moderate the interpersonal justice to classical time banditry relationship. Based on these results, this study suggests that organizations should consider investing in new policy development and/or supervisor training programs on topics such as civility training or conflict resolution to try and prevent and/or manage employee perceptions of interpersonal justice. Additionally, we discuss theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and suggest potential future research.