Web access for IT staff: a developing world perspective on web abuse

The Environment of Task Procrastination

Procrastination is an important source of losses in organizational productivity. It is also an interpersonal concern in work teams, and often the cause of personal frustration. Rich accounts exist in the scholarly literature about an individual’s personality and behavioral traits able to explain procrastinatory attitudes, but the environmental factors that moderate procrastination are less understood, and especially not so in information technology (IT) research. Our study is a systematic review of the literature in four behavioral sciences. It seeks to organize procrastination-related factors that are external to the individual, and to present implications for the IT workplace. Broadly, we conclude that the IT workplace is a rich tapestry of positive and negative sources of procrastination influences weaved into the timely fulfillment of tasks. We also reach at a surprisingly new understanding of Leavitt’s system model (a model that has been in use for decades in the study of IT phenomena), i.e., the existence of forces that act in opposite directions regarding procrastination.

Internet addiction at workplace and it implication for workers life style: Exploration from Southern India

BACKGROUND

Industries are focusing on digitization of their working environment. It helps in enhanced productivity as well as communication among workers. It also lead to higher usages of internet for non work related use at workplace. It affect their productivity at workplace. The present study was undertaken to explore internet use in Information technology (IT) industry and non IT industry, to see its consequence and effect on lifestyle and functioning.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

250 employees of various Government/Private sector organizations(using internet for more than a year and education level of graduation and above) were approached for the assessment using cross sectional research design.

RESULTS

The average age of participants was 30.4 years. 9.2% participants falling in category of occasional problems/'at risk' for developing addiction in functioning/moderate impairment due to internet use. Statistically more participants falling in 'at risk category' had reported postponement of work and change in productivity. Sleep, meals, personal hygiene and family time were postponed more by participants who were at risk for developing internet addiction.

CONCLUSIONS

The study has implications for developing a workplace based psycho-social intervention program to address the technology use issues at workplace.

Do employees’ private demands lead to cyberloafing? The mediating role of job stress

Purpose

Cyberloafing has been reported as a prevalent practice among employees and has been called the hidden epidemic killing business productivity. Given the importance of this issue, this study aims to propose and empirically test a research model to investigate the relationships between private demands, job stress and cyberloafing, premised on border theory, conservation of resources theory and general strain theory.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 301 usable data were collected from employees who work in the ICT sector, using self-reported questionnaires that are subsequently analysed using Partial Least Square (PLS) structural equation modelling.

Findings

The results of this study have revealed that both private demands and job stress are positively related to cyberloafing. In addition, job stress is positively related to private demands and also partially mediates the relationship between private demands and cyberloafing. Therefore, the findings are suggestive of employee’s job resources being depleted when they cross between work and non-work domains as they attempt to satisfy their private demands. As a result, insufficient job resources channelled towards handling job-related demands results in job stress, followed by their engagement in cyberloafing behaviour as a coping mechanism.

Originality/value

The main theoretical contribution of this research is to expand upon the existing knowledge of the relationship between private demands and cyberloafing by demonstrating the mediating effect of job stress. Interestingly, the findings revealed that employees’ non-work domain can have a significant influence on both emotions and behaviours at work.

[Social-professional status, identity, social participation and media utilization. Analysis of a complex dynamics]

This article examines the link between the domain and level of occupation, on the one hand, and use of media, including internet, on the other. It adds to this investigation an analysis of identity in its relation to media use and accessibility. It challenges the hypothesis of a strong correlation between level of occupation and use and accessibility to media. It reveals complex phenomena of social homogenization and differentiation. Data is extracted from a sample of workers who completed a questionnaire which focused on use of media.