Strategies for Leaders to Counter Social Loafing Through The Use of Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Literature Review

Social loafing (SL) is a counterintuitive phenomenon that describes a decrease of efficiency observed in both small groups and large organizations. Research over the past century has increased our understanding of SL and identified antecedent factors that appear to reduce or exacerbate its effect. Subsequent organizational models have beenconceived and evolved, starting with organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), which led toward contextualperformance (CP), and recently to contextual and citizenship performance (CCP). Each type of model can provide valuable insight explaining employee behavior and under which contexts SL occurs. Research shows that OCB has improves organizational productivity and competitiveness, due to organizational management fostering an environment where employees can exceed workplace expectations by volunteering and improving workercooperation. Similarly, research on CP models focus on the voluntary aspects of employee’s prosocial behaviors that improve the organization’s social and psychological core. CCP, the most recent model, combines both OCB and CP to form a more comprehensive and flexible model that can be leveraged by those in leadership positions who epitomize specific characteristics to be exemplified by employees for optimal job performance. There are several confounding factors involved in attempting to reduce SL: the bystander effect; deindividuation; and ineffective performance appraisals. Organizational leaders interested in optimizing job performance must be aware of these factors as well as the use of citizenship models, being willing to modify their communication styles, and investigating the use of a modified motivational reward system. The idea of replacing monetary goals with psychological ones have been shown to be effective countermeasures that can be implemented in largerorganizations to enhance effectiveness. Last, the United States Air Force is explored as a case study that has implemented many of these concepts, exemplifying methods leaders can apply to influence worker efficiency and job satisfaction

Risk, benefit and moderators of the affect heuristic in a widespread unlawful activity: Evidence from a survey of unlawful file sharing behavior

Increasing the perception of legal risk via publicized litigation and lobbying for copyright law enforcement has had limited success in reducing unlawful content sharing by the public. We consider the extent to which engaging in file sharing online is motivated by the perceived benefits of this activity as opposed to perceived legal risks. Moreover, we explore moderators of the relationship between perceived risk and perceived benefits; namely trust in industry and legal regulators, and perceived online anonymity. We examine these questions via a large two-part survey of consumers of music (n = 658) and eBooks (n = 737). We find that perceptions of benefit, but not of legal risk, predict stated file sharing behavior. An affect heuristic is employed: as perceived benefit increases, perceived risk falls. This relationship is increased under high regulator and industry trust (which actually increases perceived risk in this study) and low anonymity (which also increases perceived risk). We propose that, given the limited impact of perceived legal risk upon unlawful downloading, it would be better for the media industries to target enhancing the perceived benefit and availability of lawful alternatives

Self-Reported Cyber Crime: An Analysis on the Effects of Anonymity and Pre-Employment Integrity

A key issue facing today’s society is the increase in cyber crimes. Cyber crimes pose threats to nations, organizations and individuals across the globe. Much of the research in cyber crime has risen from computer science-centric programs, and little experimental research has been performed on the psychology of cyber crime. This has caused a knowledge gap in the study of cyber crime. To this end, this research focuses on understanding psychological concepts related to cyber crime. Through an experimental design, participants were randomly assigned to three groups with varying degrees of anonymity. After each treatment, participants were asked to self-report their cyber crime engagement, and pre-employment integrity. Results indicated that the anonymity manipulation had a main effect on self-reported cyber crime engagement. The results also showed that there is a statistically significant negative relationship between self-reported cyber crime engagement and pre-employment integrity. Suggestions for future research are also discussed

Identifying entrepreneurs through risk taking behaviour: illegal downloading

Purpose – This paper is the first in a series which explores whether it is possible to use risk-taking activities as a way of identifying potential entrepreneurs. The research examines the motivations of individuals to engage in deviant consumer behaviour, in this case illegal downloading and the link between this behaviour and possible entrepreneurial characteristics. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology approach was of a quantitative nature using a 32-item questionnaire disseminated to 215 undergraduate students at a UK University. Findings – Although there was strong evidence of entrepreneurial traits existing across the participants, including risk taking propensity, no relationship could be found between risk taking propensity and illegal downloading. Reasons put forward for this findings were that the level of risk involved was too low to be identified as such by the downloaders, even though the nondownloaders were worried about being caught and therefore were not participating in it. Attitudes towards this misbehaviour changes when it is not for their own consumption and very few students participated in that activity. Research limitations/implications – This study is limited to a cohort of undergraduate students at only one University. This study begins to understand the potential link between misbehaviour and entrepreneurial traits. Originality/value – This paper examines the possible link between consumer misbehaviour, in this case illegal downloading and the display of entrepreneurial risk-taking characteristics. The implication of ‘consumer misbehaviour’ through illegal downloading being ‘entrepreneurial’ has, to our knowledge, not been previously tested and could be a useful and inexpensive way of identifying future entrepreneurs and consequently directing relevant support and training to the right people

Limitation of Sales Warranties as an Alternative to Intellectual Property Rights: An Empirical Analysis of IPhone Warranties’ Deterrent Impact on Consumers

Apple\u27s success with the Apple iPhone has brought with it certain problems. Its success has engendered a community that has attempted to circumvent Apple\u27s exclusive service agreement with AT&T. Unfortunately for Apple (and similarly situated manufacturers), intellectual property law allows consumers to alter their products so as to circumvent relationships that manufacturers may have with others. The patent and copyright law first sale doctrine allows consumers to manipulate a product after it is purchased. As a result, manufacturers are increasingly turning to alternatives to intellectual property to secure control over the device after the sale. One such alternative is the exclusion of warranty under Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code. This iBrief considers whether limitation of warranties have the deterrence effect manufacturers desire. Said differently, it considers whether manufacturers can use warranty limitations to prevent consumers from using their products in an unauthorized manner. The iBrief presents a behavioral model based on the Triandis model of planned behavior and enhances the model by accounting for likely and unlikely benefits and detriments. The model suggests that participants weigh the probability and magnitude of the detriment against the probability and magnitude of the beneficial impact when making the decision to engage in technological piracy. This model, considered with other empirical evidence, suggests that Apple\u27s warranty could be a stronger deterrent for consumers than civil liability. The iBrief concludes that manufacturers can better protect their post-sale expectation of profits by raising consumer awareness of their warranty\u27s quality and by raising awareness of the consequences for using the product in a way that is outside the terms of the consumers\u27 authorized use

The profile of the international cyber offender in the U.S.

This study explores the characteristics of international cyber offenders prosecuted in the U.S. Our findings to a large extent correspond with general studies about cyber offenders with a few important exceptions. First, the average age of the offenders in our study is slightly higher than others that do not focus exclusively on international offenders. Second, while this research confirms that China is among the leading country in committing cybercrimes when it comes to committing particular types of cybercrimes, the offenders come from other countries as well such as Romania, Estonia, Ukraine, South Africa, and Nigeria. Third, our results show that in each of the cases from the sample, the international offenders received prison sentences alone, or complemented with a fine or restitution. In addition, the sentence length of citizens of African countries is significantly higher than the ones of citizens of other geographic regions. Prison sentences for cyber frauds and identity thefts were also found to be much lengthier than sentences for other types of cybercrimes. Implications are provided

The Impact of Low Self-Control on Online Harassment: Interaction with Opportunity.

Developing Internet technology has increased the rates of youth online harassment. This study examines online harassment from adolescents with low self-control and the moderating effect of opportunity. The data used in this study were collected by the Korea Institute of Criminology in 2009. The total sample size was 1,091. The results indicated that low self-control, opportunity, and gender have a significant influence on online harassment. However, these results differed according to gender; for males, low self-control significantly impacted online harassment; for females, however, only low self-control significantly impacted online harassment. Furthermore, the interaction between low self-control and opportunity did not significantly influence online harassment for either gender. The results of multiple regression strongly supported Gottfredson and Hirschi\u27s (1990) theory, but other models divided by gender only partially supported interacting effects. Thus, low self-control theory should be applied by genders. These results can help to guide investigations of online misconduct and application of digital forensics resources as well as suggest policies and practices to prevent and remediate it

Anonymity, Cybercrime, and the Connection to Cryptocurrency

Cybercrime currently poses a significant threat to the infrastructure of the United States. It can exploit vulnerabilities within the Critical Infrastructure or (CI) systems that are increasingly interconnected. Although the increased interconnectedness allows for easier and more efficient communication it creates vulnerabilities that did not exist ten years ago. A lack of a standardized definition of cybercrime has made it increasingly difficult to create policy that will allow for more efficient interagency cooperation and concrete laws regarding cybercrime. Cybercrime thrives on the anonymity of the Internet with the use of specific browsers, The Onion Router for example, to access information not searchable within everyday search engines. In addition, cybercrime thrives with the increased use of peer-to-peer decentralized cryptocurrency

The Compass, Issue 2

Issue 2 of The Compass, a scholarly journal edited and produced by students in the Arcadia University Honors Program

Law, Norms, Piracy and Online Anonymity – Practices of de-identification in the global file sharing community

Purpose The purpose of this study is to better understand online anonymity in the global file-sharing community in the context of social norms and copyright law. The study describes the respondents in terms of use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or similar services with respect to age, gender, geographical location, as well as analysing the correlation with file-sharing frequencies. Design/methodology/approach This study, to a large extent, collected descriptive data through a web-based survey. This was carried out in collaboration with the BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay (TPB), which allowed us to link the survey from the main logo of their site. In 72 hours, we received over 75,000 responses, providing the opportunity to compare use of anonymity services with factors of age, geographical region, file-sharing frequency, etc. Findings Overall, 17.8 per cent of the respondents used a VPN or similar service (free or paid). A core of high-frequency uploaders is more inclined to use VPNs or similar services than the average file sharer. Online anonymity practices in the file-sharing community depend on how legal and social norms correlate (more enforcement means more anonymity). Research limitations/implications The web-based survey was in English and mainly attracted visitors on The Pirate Bay’s web site. This means that it is likely that those who do not have the language skills necessary were excluded from the survey. Practical implications This study adds to the knowledge of online anonymity practices in terms of traceability and identification, and therefore describes some of the conditions for legal enforcement in a digital environment. Social implications This study adds to the knowledge of how the Internet is changing in terms of a polarization between stronger means of legally enforced identification and a growing awareness of how to be more untraceable. Originality/value The scale of the survey, with over 75,000 respondents from most parts of the world, has likely not been seen before on this topic. The descriptive study of anonymity practices in the global file-sharing community is therefore likely unique