Abstract:
In this paper, the researchers argue that unravelling perceptions and attitudes of relevant employees
towards theft and vandalism is critical to stemming electric cable theft. The researchers draw on the Reasoned
Action Theory (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to explain the involvement of electricity
utility companies’ own employees in vandalism and theft of electricity copper cables.Drawing on a theoretical
research approach involving the examination of mainstream literature, the paper explores the reasons for employees’
engagement in actions that contradict company policy, namely stealing from the employer or vandalizing
organisational property. The findings suggests that personal traits (employee perceptions and attitudes),
organizational factors (such as organizational climate) constitute presage factors that trigger psychological
dispositions to rob the company of its material assets (copper cables) in general and ultimately steal and vandalise
copper cables in particular.
