Abstract
Research has demonstrated that employee reactions to monitoring systems depend on both the characteristics of the monitoring system and how it is implemented. However, little is known about the role individual differences may play in this process. This study proposes that individuals have generalized attitudes toward organizational control and monitoring activities. We examined this argument by assessing the relationship between employees’ baseline attitudes toward a set of monitoring and control techniques that span the employment relationship. We further explore the effects of employees’ generalized attitudes toward monitoring and their individual ethical orientations on their attitudinal reactions to an Internet monitoring system implemented in their workplace. Results of a longitudinal study indicate that as expected, prior beliefs and ethical orientation interact to affect employees’ reactions to monitoring systems. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
References
Ajzen I., M. Fishbein 1980 Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Alder G. S. 1998 Ethical Issues in Electronic Performance Monitoring: A Consideration of Deontological and Teleological Perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics 17: 729–743
Alder G. S. 2001 Employee Reactions to Electronic Performance Monitoring: A Consequence of Organizational Culture. Journal of High Technology Management Research 12: 323–342
Alder G. S., M. L. Ambrose 2005a Towards Understanding Fairness Judgments Associated with Computer Performance Monitoring: An Integration of the Feedback, Justice, and Monitoring Research. Human Resource Management Review 15: 43–67
Alder G. S., M. L. Ambrose 2005b An Examination of the Effect of Computerized Performance Monitoring Feedback on Monitoring Fairness, Performance, and Satisfaction. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 97: 161–177
Alder, G. S., M. L. Ambrose and T. W. Noel: 2006, `The Effect of Formal Advance Notice and Justification On Internet Monitoring Fairness. Much Ado About Nothing?', Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies 13, 93–107
Alge B. J. 2001 Effects of Computer Surveillance on Perceptions of Privacy and Procedural Justice. Journal of Applied Psychology 86: 797–804
Ambrose M. L., G. S. Alder 2000 Designing, Implementing, and Utilizing Computerized Performance Monitoring: Enhancing Organizational Justice. In: G. Ferris (ed.) Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management. JAI, Press, Greenwich, CT, pp. 187–220
American Management Association: 2001, AMA Survey Workplace Monitoring & Surveillance, 2001
Bennett R. J., S. L. Robinson 2000 Development of a Measure of Workplace Deviance. Journal of Applied Psychology 85: 349–360
Blau G., Y. Yang, K. Ward-Cook 2004 Testing a Measure of Cyberloafing. Journal of Allied Health 35: 9–17
Brady E. N. 1985 A Janus-headed Model of Ethical Theory: Looking Two Ways at Business/Society Issues. Academy of Management Review 10: 568–576
Brady F. N. 1990 Ethical Managing: Rules and Results. MacMillan, New York
Brady F. N., G. E. Wheeler 1996 An Empirical Study of Ethical Predispositions. Journal of Business Ethics 15: 927–940
Case C. J., K. S. Young 2002 Employee Internet Management: Current Business Practices and Outcomes. CyberPsychology and Behavior 5: 355–361
Chalykoff J., T. A. Kochan 1989 Computer-aided Monitoring: Its Influence on Employee Job Satisfaction and Turnover. Personnel Psychology 42: 807–834
Cohen A. 2001 Worker Watchers. Fortune 143(13): 70–75
Cohen J., P. Cohen, S. G. West, L. S. Aiken 2003 Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ
Colquitt J. A., J. C. Shaw 2005 How should organizational justice be measured? In: J. Greenberg, J. A. Colquitt (eds.) The Handbook of Organizational Justice. Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 113–152
Corbin D. E. 2000 Keeping a Virtual Eye on Employees. Occupational Health & Safety 69: 24–28
Culnan M. J., H. J. Smith, R. J. Bies 1994 Law, Privacy, and Organizations: The Corporate Obsession to Know Versus the Individual Right Not to be Known. In: S. Sitkin, R. Bies (eds.) The Legalistic Organization. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 190–211
Davis R. A., G. L. Flett, A. Besser 2002 Validation of a New Scale for Measuring Problematic Internet Use: Implications for Pre-Employment Screening. CyberPsychology & Behavior 5: 331–345
Douthitt E. A., J. R. Aiello 2001 The Role of Participation and Control in the Effects of Computer Monitoring on Fairness Perceptions, Task Satisfaction, and Performance. Journal of Applied Psychology 86: 867–874
Eddy E. R., D. L. Stone, E. F. Stone-Romero 1999 The Effects of Information Management Policies on Reactions to Human Resource Information Systems: An Integration of Privacy and Procedural Justice Perspectives. Personnel Psychology 52: 335–358
Eisenberger R., R. Huntington, S. Hutchison, D. Sowa 1986 Perceived Organizational Support. Journal of Applied Psychology 71: 500–507
Firoz N. M., R. Taghi, J. Souckova 2006 E-mails in the Workplace: The Electronic Equivalent of ‹DNA’ Evidence. Journal of American Academy of Business 8: 71–78
Fishbein M., I. Ajzen 1975. Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behavior. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA
Frook J. E. 1997 Helping Employees Get Hip to the Web. Internet Week 647: 1–4
Galletta, D. F. and P. Polak: 2003, ‹An Empirical Investigation of Antecedents of Internet Abuse in the Workplace’, Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Workshop on HCI Research in MIS (Seattle, WA), pp. 12–13
Greenberg J. 1994 Using Socially Fair Treatment to Promote Acceptance of a Worksite Smoking Ban. Journal of Applied Psychology 79: 288–297
Hattrup K., S. E. Jackson 1996 Learning about Individual Differences by Taking Situations Seriously. In K. R. Murphy (ed.) Individual Differences and Behavior in Organizations. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp. 507–547
Hawk S. R. 1994 The Effects of Computerized Performance Monitoring: An Ethical Perspective. Journal of Business Ethics 13: 949–957
Hill R. 1997 Electronic Commerce, the World Wide Web, Minitel, and EDI. Information Society 13: 33–41
Hovorka-Mead A. D., W. H. Ross, T. Whipple, M. B. Renchin 2002 Watching the Detectives: Seasonal Student Employee Reactions to Electronic Monitoring with and without Advance Notification. Personnel Psychology 55: 329–362
Hu L., P. M. Bentler 1999 Cutoff Criteria for Fit Indexes in Covariance Structure Analysis: Conventional Criteria Versus New Alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling 6: 1–55
Kidwell R. E. Jr., N. Bennett 1994 Employee Reactions to Electronic Control Systems: The Role of Procedural Fairness. Group and Organization Management 19: 203–218
Kim S. 2006 Economics of Employee Internet Management. The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances 19: 124–138
Kohlberg L. 1984 The Psychology of Moral Development. Harper and Row, San Francisco
Kolb K. J., J. R. Aiello 1996 The Effects of Electronic Performance Monitoring on Stress: Locus of Control as a Moderator Variable. Computers in Human Behavior 12: 407–423
Lavoie J., T. Pychyl 2001 Cyberslacking and the Procrastination Superhighway: A Web-Based Survey of Online Procrastination, Attitudes, and Emotion. Social Science Computer Review 19: 431–444
Lee Z., Y. Lee, Y. Kim 2004 Personal Web Page Usage in Organizations. In: M. Anandarajan, C. Simmers (eds.) Personal Web Usage in the Workplace: A guide to Effective Human Resources Management. Information Sciences Publishing, Hershey, PA, pp. 28–46
Liao H., D. E. Rupp 2005 The Impact of Justice Climate and Justice Orientation on Work Outcomes: A Cross-Level Multifoci Framework. Journal of Applied Psychology 90: 242–256
Lichtash, A. E.: 2004, ‹Inappropriate Use of E-mail and the Internet in the Workplace: The Arbitration Picture’, Dispute Resolution Journal February/April, 26–36
Lim V. K. 2002 The IT Way of Loafing on the Job: Cyberloafing, Neutralizing and Organizational Justice. Journal of Organizational Behavior 23: 675–694
Lim V. K.G., T. S.H. Teo, G. L. Loo 2002 How do I Loaf Here? Let Me Count the Ways. Communications of the ACM 45: 66–70
Manrique de Lara P. Z. 2006 Fear in Organizations Does Intimidation by Formal Punishment Mediate the Relationship Between Interactional Justice and Workplace Internet Deviance? Journal of Managerial Psychology 21: 580–592
Marron, K.: 2000, ‹Attack of the Cyberslackers’, The Globe and Mail, p. T5
Martin K., R. E. Freeman 2003 Some Problems with Employee Monitoring. Journal of Business Ethics 43: 353–361
McAllister D. 1995 Affect- and Cognition-Based Trust as Foundations for Interpersonal Cooperation in Organizations. Academy of Management Journal 38: 24–59
McAllister, D: 1999, ‹Cynicism at Work: The Social Dynamics of Extreme Distrust in Organizations’, Proceedings of a symposium on “Cynicism and Trust in␣Workplace Relationships” Academy of Management Meeting (Chicago, Illinois)
Mello J. A. 2003 The Evolving Nature of the employment Relationship: Reconsidering Employee Responsibilities and Rights. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 15: 99–101
National Workrights Institute: 2004, Report: ‹Privacy Under Siege: Electronic Monitoring in the Workplace’
Neter J., W. Wasserman, M. H. Kunter 1985 Applied Linear Statistical Models. Irwin, Homewood, IL
Niehoff B. P., R. H. Moorman 1993 Justice as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Methods of Monitoring and Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Academy of Management Journal 36: 527–556
Nozick R. 1981 Philosophical Explanations. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Parenti C. 2001 Big Brother’s Corporate Cousin. The Nation 273(5): 26–31
Reynolds S. 2006 Moral Awareness and Ethical Predispositions: Investigating the Role of Individual Differences in the Recognition of Moral Issues. Journal of Applied Psychology 91: 233–243
Schminke M. 2001 Considering the Business in Business Ethics: An Exploratory Study of the Influence of Organizational Size and Structure on Individual Ethical Predispositions. Journal of Business Ethics 30: 375–390
Schminke M., M. L. Ambrose, T. W. Noel 1997 The Effect of Ethical Frameworks on Perceptions of Organizational Justice. Academy of Management Journal 40: 1190–1207
Schminke M., D. L. Wells 1999 Group Processes and Performance and Their Effects on Individuals’ Ethical Frameworks. Journal of Business Ethics 18: 367–381
Schminke M., D. Wells, J. Peyrefitte, T. C. Sebora 2002 Leadership and Ethics in Work Groups: A Longitudinal Assessment. Group and Organization Management 27: 272–293
Schumacker R. E., R. G. Lomax 1996 A Beginner’s Guide to Structural Equation Modeling. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey
Siau K., F. F. Nah, L. Teng 2002 Acceptable Internet Use Policy. Communications in the ACM 45: 75–79
Stanton J. M. 2000a Reactions to Employee Performance Monitoring: Framework, Review, and Research Directions. Human Performance 13: 85–113
Stanton J. M. 2000b Traditional and Electronic Monitoring from an Organizational Justice Perspective. Journal of Business and Psychology 15: 129–148
Stanton J. M., E. M. Weiss 2000 Electronic Monitoring in Their Own Words: An Exploratory Study of Employees’ Experiences with New Types of Surveillance. Computers in Human Behavior 16: 423–440
Stanton J. M., E. M. Weiss 2003 Organisational Databases of Personnel Information: Contrasting the Concerns of Human Resource Managers and Employees. Behaviour & Information Technology 22: 291–304
Tabak F., W. P. Smith 2005 Privacy and Electronic Monitoring in the Workplace: A Model of Managerial Cognition and Relational Trust Development. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 17: 173–189
Urbaczewski A., L. M. Jessup. 2002 Does Electronic Monitoring of Employee Internet Usage Work? Communications in the ACM 45: 80–83
Wen H. J., P. Gershuny 2005 Computer-based Monitoring in the American Workplace: Surveillance Technologies and Legal Challenges. Human Systems Management 24: 165–173
Woodward, V.: 1998, September, ‹Email, Privacy, and the Workplace: Legal Issues Online’, Domino Power Magazine. http://www.dominopower.com/issues/ issue199809/privacy001.html (accessed June 14, 2006)
Zimmerman E. 2002 HR Must Know when Employee Surveillance Crosses the Line. Workforce 81(2): 38–45
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alder, G.S., Schminke, M., Noel, T.W. et al. Employee Reactions to Internet Monitoring: The Moderating Role of Ethical Orientation. J Bus Ethics 80, 481–498 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9432-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9432-2