HUNGRY HUNGRY COWORKER: THE IDENTIFICATION OF LUNCH THEFT AS A FORM OF PERSON-DIRECTED COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WORK BEHAVIOR

Theft is a widely studied phenomenon in the workplace. However, much of this research focuses on organizational theft (i.e., stealing from the company), and no studies to date have investigated coworker lunch theft, although preliminary research indicates it may be a chronic problem for employees. The goal of my study is to examine lunch theft in the workplace and establish it as a person-directed counterproductive work behavior. The present study investigates what motivates a lunch thief to steal fellow coworkers’ food and/or drink that they brought to work using the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) to explain the occurrence of lunch theft behavior. This research will help identify lunch theft as a new form of counterproductive work behavior and lead to future research identifying the impact this behavior has on victims and organizations as a whole.