A Breach of Trust: Employee Collusion and Theft from Major Retailers

Joshua Bamfield ()

Chapter Chapter 9 in Crime at Work, 1998, pp 123-141 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This chapter discusses the extent of shop theft by retail employees of major retailers and the significance of collusion with customer thieves. A survey of retailers responsible for more than 50 per cent of all UK retail trade indicated that theft by staff was thought to have a significant impact on the business, and that the effect was reinforced by staff collusion with customer thieves. ‘Staff-related’ theft was estimated to represent one half of these firms’ theft losses. It is argued that collusion tends to be under-reported by conventional crime surveys and could well be prevalent because it often carries a lower level of risk than direct theft by staff or customers on their own. A survey of 219 staff in ten stores showed that whilst the great majority of staff were thought to be honest and direct theft of cash and goods was rare, collusion was a significant problem and formed part of a social exchange process for many employees. The research finds that motivation and perceived risk may be critical determinants of the level of staff theft. It recommends that retailers spend more time focusing on the risks of detection and punishment by explaining to staff the range of methods used to combat theft by employees and showing that detection does lead to significant punishment.

Keywords: Focus Group; Shrinkage Figure; Security Staff; Clothing Store; Employee Theft (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-37783-7_9

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230377837

DOI: 10.1057/9780230377837_9

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().