Generational divide in views of 'deviant' retail theft

Younger Australians are more likely to rationalise stealing, changing price tags and deliberately misusing self-serve checkouts, research shows.

More than one-in-four shoppers believe retail theft is justifiable in some forms, a June survey of 1047 Australian adults toward deviant consumer behaviours shows.

Examples included taking an item without paying for it (27 per cent), changing price tags on products (30 per cent), not scanning some items at self-checkout (32 per cent) and scanning items as cheaper products (36 per cent).

The vast majority (85 per cent to 89 per cent) acknowledged the actions were illegal, but there was a clear generational divide on their justifiability.

Nine out of 10 shoppers 55 years and older said taking an item without paying for it was not at all justifia