How high involvement work systems reduce employee time theft: the role of psychological empowerment and organizational identification

Purpose Time theft is a widespread and costly workplace deviant behavior. Based on social information processing theory, the authors build a multilevel model to explore when and how team-level high involvement work systems (HIWSs) could effectively reduce time theft behavior. Specifically, this study aims to propose that HIWSs relate to employee time theft through the mediating effect of psychological empowerment and the moderating role of team-level organizational identification. Design/methodology/approach Through a three-wave field survey, this study successfully collected data from 396 employees and their 87 direct supervisors working in different industries in an eastern province of China. Findings The results suggest that HIWSs reduce employee time theft via psychological empowerment, and team-level organizational identification strengthens the indirect effect. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by introducing HIWSs as a human resource management-related antecedent of time theft. It also identifies psychological empowerment as a key mediator that links HIWSs to employee time theft and reveals the moderating role of organizational identification in the relationship.