Title: Employees' insecure attachment styles and time theft: a moderated mediated model

Authors: Kausar Fiaz Khawaja; Syeda Ridda Zainab; Shahida Mariam

Addresses: Faculty of Management Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan ' Faculty of Management Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan ' Faculty of Management Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan; Government Associate College, Rawalpindi Cantt., Pakistan

Abstract: This paper investigates the influence of insecure attachment (avoidance and anxiety) style on employee time theft with mediating role of emotional exhaustion and moderating role of supervisor aggression. To empirically study the proposed relationships, we collected data from 440 employees of the service industry in Pakistan and analysed using AMOS 22 and SPSS 19. After data screening and confirming the reliability and validity of the study variables, mediation and moderation analysis were conducted. Results revealed that emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between insecure attachment style and employee theft. Study results further reveal that supervisor aggression moderates the relationship between insecure attachment style and emotional exhaustion. Hence all proposed hypotheses were proved.

Keywords: insecure attachment style; supervisor aggression; employee time theft; emotional exhaustion; conservation of resources; COR; theory.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWOE.2023.130239

International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 2023 Vol.14 No.1, pp.72 - 88

Received: 01 Sep 2021
Accepted: 06 Aug 2022
Published online: 10 Apr 2023 *