Within the IS security field, employee computer crime has received increased attention.
Indeed, a number of researchers have focused their attention on the behaviour of the
‘insider’, both prior to and during the perpetration. Despite this, there is currently an
absence of academic insight into the problem of workplace disgruntlement and how this
may motivate employee computer crime. To address this deficiency, this paper draws
on a body of knowledge called ‘organisational justice’, which examines how perceptions
of fairness are formed. Under this umbrella term are four constructs which relate to
different organisational phenomena and influence employees’ fairness perceptions. It is
believed that these constructs, entitled distributive, procedural, interactional and
informational justice, and the theories which underpin them, can not only assist in
understanding, but also in mitigating disgruntlement. To illustrate this, a case of
employee computer sabotage is analysed, highlighting which forms of organisational
justice occurred, and how they could have been addressed. The discussion section
notes how mitigating disgruntlement provides a new area for safeguard
implementation, with the final part of the paper discussing the conclusions and
potential for future research
