Is My Employee Stealing? A Qualitative Research to Discover the Factors Affecting and Preventing Employee Theft in SMEs

Öz

Employee theft is a common form of behavior in small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). This situation inflicts serious financial losses on businesses and hinders their development. SMEs that cannot achieve the required growth level indirectly hinder the country's development. In this respect, describing employee thefts in SMEs will make serious contributions to both the relevant literature and practitioners. Therefore, the research aims to reflect a general portrait of the causes, processes, and consequences of employee theft in SMEs. In line with the purpose of the research, answers were sought to two basic questions. The first of these is the discovery of the factors that affect the tendency of individuals working in SMEs to theft behavior. The second is to determine what measures should be taken to prevent employee theft from happening again in these businesses. To answer the research questions, individuals working in 10 SMEs were contacted and interviews were held. These employees operate in the textile, tourism, white goods, furniture, accounting-finance and food sectors in Turkey's Denizli province. The data evaluated by the descriptive analysis method pointed to 3 main themes and 23 sub-themes, namely cash, goods or products and time, which pushed the employees to theft. The data evaluated by the descriptive analysis method pointed to 3 main themes and 23 sub-themes, namely cash, goods or products and time, which pushed the employees to theft. In addition, theoretical and practical implications are presented by interpreting sub-themes such as timely stocktaking, security measures and surveillance to prevent theft behaviors experienced in SMEs.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• SMEs
• Management
• Planned Behavior Theory
• Employee
• Employe Theft

Çalışanım Çalıyor mu? KOBİ’lerde Çalışan Hırsızlığını Etkileyen ve Önleyici Faktörlerin Keşfedilmesine Yönelik Nitel Bir Araştırma

Öz

Çalışan hırsızlığı küçük ve orta büyüklükteki işletmelerde (KOBİ) yaygın olarak karşılaşılan bir davranış şeklidir. Bu durum işletmeleri ciddi mali zararlara uğratmakta ve onların gelişimine engel olmaktadır. Gerekli düzeyde büyüme sağlayamayan KOBİ’ler dolaylı yoldan ülke gelişiminin sağlanmasına engel olmaktadır. Bu yönüyle KOBİ’lerde yaşanan çalışan hırsızlıklarının tanımlanması hem ilgili literatüre hem de uygulayıcılara önemli katkılar sağlayacaktır. Dolayısıyla araştırmanın amacı KOBİ’lerde yaşanan çalışan hırsızlığının neden, süreç ve sonuçlarının genel bir portresini çizmektedir. Araştırma amacı doğrultusunda iki temel soruya yanıt aranmıştır. Bunlardan ilki, KOBİ’lerde çalışan bireylerin hırsızlık davranışına yönelmelerine etkileyen faktörlerin keşfedilmesidir. İkincisi ise söz konusu işletmelerde çalışan hırsızlığının bir daha yaşanmaması için alınması gereken önlemlerin neler olduğunun belirlenmesidir. Araştırma sorularının yanıtlanması için 10 KOBİ’de çalışan bireye ulaşılmış, görüşmeler gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bu çalışanlar, Türkiye’nin Denizli ilinde tekstil, turizm, beyaz eşya, mobilya, muhasebe-finans, gıda sektörlerinde faaliyet gösteren işletmelerde çalışmaktadırlar. Betimsel analiz yöntemiyle değerlendirilen veriler çalışanları hırsızlığa iten nakit, mal ya da ürün ve zaman olmak üzere 3 ana tema ve 23 alt temaya işaret etmiştir. Söz konusu ana temalar ve alt temalar yorumlanmış çalışanları hırsızlığa iten sebeplerin genellikle bireysel ve ailevi sebepler olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Ayrıca KOBİ’lerde yaşanan hırsızlık davranışlarının önlenmesi için zamanında stok sayımı, güvenlik tedbirleri, gözetim gibi alt temalar yorumlanarak teorik ve pratik çıkarımlar sunulmuştur.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• KOBİ
• Planlı Davranış
• Çalışan
• Çalışan Hırsızlığı

Kaynakça

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