Organization of Ownership and Workplace Theft in China

This article examines the relationship between the organization of ownership and workplace theft in China. The authors argue that China offers a particularly useful context for studying this topic because it is one of the few countries in the world where multiple forms of ownership have become common following recent economic reforms. The authors consider two basic forms of ownership: public and private. Using data from a sample of inmates in the Chinese city of Tianjin, the authors assess the effect of these different forms of ownership on perceived levels of theft in the inmates’ organizations prior to incarceration. The results indicate that, contrary to what might be expected on the basis ofWestern theory and research, public ownership is associated with higher levels of workplace theft than private ownership. The authors suggest that public ownership in China has lead to a diffusion of responsibility and an organizational culture that is conducive to workplace theft.