Beneficial and Detrimental Effects of Cyberloafing in the Workplace

Yıl 2019, Cilt: 1 Sayı: 1, 97 - 114, 29.07.2019

Ali Şimşek , Eylem Şimşek

Öz

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.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Cyberloafing, Cyberslacking, Cyberdeviance

İşyerinde Siber Aylaklığın Yararlı ve Zararlı Etkileri

Öz

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.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Siber aylaklık, Siber kaytarma, Siber sapkınlık

Kaynakça

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