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In this study, given the potential sensitivity of inquiries regarding theft behavior, the authors relied on randomized-response techniques and unmatched-count techniques to estimate the base rate of employee theft for those personnel with access to cash, supplies, merchandise, or products easily converted to cash. Depending on the level one ascribes to nontrivial employee theft, these techniques converge on theft rates over 50%.

Many areas of personnel research are “sensitive.” We provide an empirical assessment of the unmatched count technique (UCT) to determine the base rate for a number of proscribed behaviors for professional auctioneers. To our knowledge, this is the first empirical application of a UCT technique in organizational studies. Advantages of the UCT are discussed including: (a) a more accurate estimate of the base rates for sensitive behavior, (b) absolute anonymity to subjects, (c) “legal immunity” to the researcher, and (d) facilitation of complete disclosure to subjects with no deception.

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