Beneficial and Detrimental Effects of Cyberloafing in the Workplace

Year 2019, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 97 - 114, 29.07.2019

Ali Şimşek , Eylem Şimşek

Abstract

Employees may exhibit a variety of attitudes and behaviors in organizations. Some of them may be positive and beneficial for improving organizational climate and productivity, while others may be negative and detrimental to relationships and performance of employees. Positive attitudes and behaviors are usually prosocial and may be reflected in the form of commitment, identification, embeddedness, involvement, vitality, belongingness, friendship, innovativeness, creativity and the like. Negative attitudes and behaviors are generally counterproductive and may take the form of theft, sabotage, withdrawal, absenteeism, incivility, exclusion, selfishness, cynicism, dishonesty, bullying, aggression, violence, mobbing, revenge, sexual harassment and so forth. Along with these relatively conventional behaviors, one of the most recent type of behaviors observed with an increasing rate in the workplace is cyberloafing. This concept can be defined as employees’ intentional and continuous use of Internet for personal purposes during the work hours. Some indicators of cyberloafing are sending and receiving personal messages, reading daily news, following sports, playing virtual games, online shopping, monitoring stock markets, completing bank transactions, attending forums, blogging, online gambling, accessing adult sites, downloading music, watching popular videos, attending virtual communities, communicating with friends in social networking sites, producing and sharing non-work-related contents etc. Literature generally suggests that the line between personal Internet use and cyberloafing in the workplace is not very clear. Furthermore, there are both organizational and personal reasons of cyberloafing. Consequently, cyberloafing may have both beneficial and detrimental effects in the workplace. This paper first describes the distinguishing characteristics of cyberloafing, then explains the common causes of it, and finally discusses the conditions under which cyberloafing may have beneficial and detrimental effects.

Keywords

Cyberloafing, Cyberslacking, Cyberdeviance

İşyerinde Siber Aylaklığın Yararlı ve Zararlı Etkileri

Abstract

Örgütlerdeki çalışanlar çok değişik tutumlar ve davranışlar sergileyebilirler. Bunların bazıları örgüt iklimi ve verimliliğini artırmak için olumlu ve yararlı olabilirken, bazıları da çalışanların ilişkileri ve performansları açısından olumsuz ve zararlı olabilir. Olumlu tutum ve davranışlar çoğunlukla toplumsal açıdan onaylanmıştır ve kendini adama, özdeşleşme, gömülme, katılım, canlılık, bağlılık, arkadaşlık, yenilikçilik, yaratıcılık vb. şekillerde yansıyabilir. Buna karşılık, olumsuz tutum ve davranışlar genellikle verimsizdir ve hırsızlık, baltalama, çekilme, kaçma, nezaketsizlik, dışlama, bencillik, önemsememe, sahtekârlık, zorbalık, saldırganlık, şiddet, yıldırma, intikam, cinsel taciz vb. biçimlerde ortaya çıkabilir. Bu görece geleneksel olan davranışların yanı sıra, işyerlerinde gittikçe artan bir şekilde gözlemlenen güncel davranış türlerinden biri de siber aylaklıktır. Bu kavram, Internet’in çalışma saatleri içinde kasıtlı ve sürekli olarak kişisel amaçlar için kullanması olarak tanımlanabilir. Siber aylaklığın bazı göstergeleri bulunmaktadır. Bunlar arasında kişisel iletiler gönderme ve alma, günlük gazeteleri okuma, spor programlarını izleme, sanal oyunlar oynama, çevrimiçi alışveriş, borsayı takip etme, bankacılık işlemleri yapma, forumlara katılma, blog yazma, çevrimiçi kumar, yetişkin sitelerine grime, müzik indirme, popüler videoları izleme, sanal topluluklara katılma, sosyal ağlarda arkadaşlarla iletişimde bulunma, isle ilgili olmayan içerik üretme ve paylaşma sayılabilir. Alanyazın genellikle Internet’in kişisel amaçlarla kullanımı ile işyerinde siber aylaklık arasındaki çizginin çok belirgin olmadığını göstermektedir. Dahası, siber aylaklığın hem bireysel kurumsal nedenleri vardır. Sonuç olarak da, siber aylaklığın işyerinde hem yararlı hem zararlı etkileri olabilmektedir. Bu makele, önce siber aylaklığın ayırt edici özelliklerini betimlemekte, ardından yaygın nedenleri açıklamakta ve son olarak işyerlerinde hangi koşullar altında siber aylaklığın yararlı ve zararlı etkilerinin ortaya çıktığını tartışmaktadır.

Keywords

Siber aylaklık, Siber kaytarma, Siber sapkınlık

References

• Anandarajan, M., Devine, P. & Simmers, C. A. (2004). A multidimensional scaling approach to personal web usage in the workplace In M. Anandarajan and C. A. Simmers (Eds.), Personal web usage in the workplace: A guide to effective human resources management (pp. 61-79). Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.
• Anandarajan, M. & Simmers, C. (2004). Constructive and dysfunctional personal web usage in the workplace: Mapping employee attitudes. In M. Anandarajan & C. Simmers (Eds.), Personal web usage in workplace: A guide to effective human resources management (pp.1-27). Melbourne: Information Science Publishing.
• Anandarajan, M., Simmers, C., & Igbaria, M. (2000). An exploratory investigation of the antecedents and impact of Internet usage: An individual perspective. Behavior and Information Technology, 19(1), 69-85.
• Anandarajan, M., Simmers, C. A., & D’Ovidio, R. (2011). Exploring the underlying structure of personal web usage in the workplace. Cyberpscyhology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(10), 577-583.
• Askew, K. L. (2012). The relationship between cyberloafing and task performance and an examination of the theory of planned behavior as a model of cyberloafing. Retrieved July 2016 from http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3957
• Blanchard, A. L. & Henle, C. A. (2008). Correlates of different forms of cyberloafing: The role of norms and external locus of control. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(3), 1067-1084.
• Chen, J. V., Chen, C. C., & Yang, H. (2008). An empirical evaluation of key factors contributing to Internet abuse in the workplace. Industrial Management and Data Systems, 108, 87-106.
• Deal, J. J. (2013). Always on, never done: Don’t blame the smartphone. Center for Creative Leadership. Retrieved August 25, 2017 from http://bit.ly/cclleadership
• Eastin, M. S., Glynn, C. J., & Griffiths, R. P. (2007). Psychology of communication technology use in the workplace. Cyber Psychology and Behavior, 10, 436-443.
• Garrett, R. K. & Danzinger, J. N. (2008). Disaffection or expected outcomes: Understanding personal Internet use during work. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 13, 937-958.
• Hassan, H. M., Reza, D. M., & Farkhad, M. A. A. (2015). An experimental study of influential elements on cyberloafing from general deterrence theory perspective case study: Tehran Subway Organization. International Business Research, 8(3), 91-98.
• Henle, C. & Kedharnath, U. (2012). Cyberloafing in the workplace. In Z. Yan (Ed.), Encyclopedia of cyber behavior (pp. 560-573). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
• Henle, C. A., Kohut, G. & Booth, R. (2009). Designing electronic use policies to enhance employee perceptions of fairness and to reduce cyberloafing: An empirical test of justice theory. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(4), 902-910.
• Jia, H., Jia, R., & Karau, S. (2013). Cyberloafing and personality: the impact of the big five traits and workplace situational factors. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 20(3), 358-365.
• Kerwin, P. (2015). Driven to distraction: What causes cyberloafing at work? Retrieved February 24, 2018 from https://news.wisc.edu/driven-to-distraction-what-causes-cyberloafing-at-work/
• Khansa, L., Barkhi, R., Ray, S., & Davis, Z. (2017). Cyberloafing in the workplace: Mitigation tactics and their impact on individuals’ behavior. Information Technology and Management [Published Online]. 1-19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10799-017-0280-1
• Lee, Z., Lee, H., & Kim, Y. (2004). Personal web usage in organizations. In M. Anandarajan & C. Simmers (Eds.), Personal web usage in workplace: A guide to effective human resources management (pp.28-45). Melbourne: Information Science Publishing.
• Liberman, B., Seidman, G., McKenna, K. Y. A., & Buffardi, L. E. (2011). Employee job attitudes and organizational characteristics as predictors of cyberloafing. Computers in Human Behavior, 27, 2192-2199.
• Lim, V. K. G. (2002). The IT way of loafing on the job: Cyberloafing, neutralizing and organizational justice. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(5), 675-694.
• Lim, V. K. G. & Chen, D.J.Q. (2012). Cyberloafing at the workplace: Gain or drain on work? Behavior and Information Technology, 31(4), 343-353.
• Lim, V. K. G., Teo, T. S. H., & Loo, G. L. (2002). How do I loaf here? Let me count the ways. Communications of the ACM, 45, 66-70.
• Rajah, R. & Lim, V. K. G. (2011). Cyberloafing, neutralization and organizational citizenship behavior. PACIS 2011 Proceedings (Paper 152). Retrieved July 20, 2017 from http://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2011/152/
• Restubog, S. L. D., Raymund, P, Garcia, J. M., Toledamo, L. S., Amarnani, R. K., Tolentino, L. R., & Tang, R. I. (2011) Yielding to (Cyber) temptation: Exploring the buffering role of self-control in the relationship between organizational justice and cyberloafing behavior in the workplace. Journal of Research in Personality, 45, 247-251.
• Simsek, A. (2018, April). Disruptive versus supportive use of mobile technologies in the classroom. Paper presented at the South Africa International Conference on Educational Technologies. Pretoria, South Africa.
• Simsek, A. & Simsek, E. (2014). Transformation of identities in the mediated landscape of the network society. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 4(4), 136-153.
• Ugrin, J. C., Pearson, J. M., & Odom, M. (2007). Profiling cyberslackers in the workplace: Demographic, cultural and workplace factors. Journal of Internet Commerce, 6(3), 75-89.
• We are social. (2018). Digital in 2018: World’s Internet users pass the 4 billion mark. Retrieved March 29, 2018 from https://wearesocial.com/blog/2018/01/global-digital-report-2018