Examining the Effects of Organizational Procedures and Policies on Appropriate Computing

Internet access for knowledge workers has become much more commonplace in the last 3 years. Along with the benefits of the Internet access come potential problems, including productivity loss and improper usage. Many companies today are trying to sell software solutions to control knowledge worker usage of the Internet, enabling managers to organizationally govern the Internet usage of employees on a constant basis. The author examines the overall effects of procedures, policies and computing solutions for eliminating the productivity vacuum in organizations with respect to Internet usage and presents a model of effects of information monitoring relating to worker outputs. Proposals for a field test of the model are include

Cyber-Slacking: Self-Control, Prior Behavior And The Impact Of Deterrence Measures

To further our understanding about how to control Internet abuse in the workplace, this study examines how a person’s level of self-control leads to cyber-slacking, how deterrence measures commonly used within organizations impact individual decisions to cyber-slack, and how self-control moderates the relative salience of one of the commonly used deterrence mechanisms against cyber-slacking, detection (monitoring) systems.  The results suggest that individuals that rate low in self-control overlook potential consequences for abusing the Internet in favor of immediate rewards, thus they have difficulty self-regulating themselves and have a higher propensity to cyber-slack.  The results also indicate that detection systems and awareness of the enforcement of sanctions are the biggest deterrents on individual intentions to cyber-slack and detection systems are even more salient to individuals that rate low in self-control.

Workplace Management and Employee Misuse: Does Punishment Matter? Journal of Computer Information Systems

With the ubiquitous deployment of Internet, workplace Internet misuse has raised increasing concern for organizations. Research has demonstrated employee reactions to monitoring systems and how they are implemented. However, little is known about the impact of punishment-related policies on employee intention to misuse Internet. To extend this line of research beyond prior studies, this paper proposes an integrated research model applying Theory of Planned Behavior, Deterrence Theory, and Theory of Ethics to examine the impact of punishment-related policy on employees’ Internet misuse intentions. The results indicate that perceived importance, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms have significant influence on employee intention to avoid Internet misuse. Contrary to expectations, there is no support for the influence of punishment severity and punishment certainty

An Empirical Evaluation Of Key Factors Contributing To Internet Abuse In The Workplace

Purpose – This study seeks to synthesize theories from communication, psychology and criminologyto examine the factors that influence the two most popular topics in industry – internet abuse andaddiction at the workplace. Design/methodology/approach – The survey results of 351 responseswere analyzed to test the proposed hypotheses and research model using structural equationmodeling. Data were collected in Southern Science Park in Taiwan.Findings – It was found that personality factors such as locus of control and self-esteem significantlyinfluence employees’ internet addictions; and internet addiction significantly impacts employees’internet abuse at the workplace. Practical implications – Employers should pay special attention toemployees’ personalities because they play important roles in internet addiction and internet abuse.Also a good internet policy will be useful especially to a panoptic working environment, which isbecoming popular. Originality/value. his study provides a comprehensive theoretical foundation tobetter understand the two controversial issues in industry. The empirical study validates theimportant theories of locus of control, self-esteem, use and gratification, control, and containment inworkplace surveillance and deviant behavior researc

An investigation of the determinants of employees' decisions to use organizational computing resources for non-work purposes.

Internet access in the workplace has become ubiquitous in many organizations. Often, employees need this access to perform their duties. However, many studies report a large percentage of employees use their work Internet access for non-work-related activities. These activities can result in reduced efficiency, increased vulnerability to cyber attack, and legal liability. Previous models of technology adoption and usage can give us some insight into this phenomenon, but they lack the ability to explain the moral decision making aspect that is involved when technology is used in a manner other than allowed by organizational policies. In this dissertation, we create and test a predictive model of the moral decision making process concerning three different categories of personal Internet usage at work (PIUW): informational, social, and adult-related. Our results indicate that perceived difficulty, perceived moral intensity, social influence, perceived personal risk, perceived benefits, and knowledge of organizational policy all have significant impacts on moral judgment concerning informational and social PIUW and all of these except perceived moral intensity and social influence also significantly impact intention for both informational and social PIUW. However, many of these factors are not significant in predicting moral judgment and intention concerning adult-related PIUW