Will they steal? Exploring ethics via an academic unsurveilled self-service checkout

Abstract

ABSTRACT The reported study presents the design and findings of a food honor system that was implemented in an academic building over 12 weeks. Relying on the tenets of self-concept maintenance theory, a food purchase self-check out honor system (i.e., unsurveilled self-service check out; SCO) was proposed to the dining service and food vendor on campus, and a model was built which allowed transactions to only be observed via an electronic self-service card swipe system used by customers for purchase transactions. The findings are compared to a similar food market available and utilized the following semester which relied on student volunteers (i.e., cashiers) to make purchase transactions for customers. Overall, the results of the food honor system revealed that this type of transaction system is not only realistic to implement in an academic building, but that it also has the potential to yield higher profits than more traditional systems which employ cashiers to conduct and observe transactions. Another benefit of this system is the opportunities it provides for students, faculty, and staff to practice and think about their ethical behaviors. The relatively low incident of theft, as compared to the unexpected high rate of sales, deemed this system to be successful and profitable.