Junk Computing

Explaining Cyberloafing through a Theoretical Integration of Theory of Interpersonal Behavior and Theory of Organizational Justice

Cyberloafing is an issue of growing concern for contemporary organizations. This paper develops an integrated research model which combines the Theory of Interpersonal Behavior and Organizational Justice to provide a holistic examination for cyberloafing behavior. Data was collected from working respondents via on-line questionnaire to test the research model. The results of this study found that the metaphor of the ledger from the organizational justice model was a significant predictor of intent to cyberloaf, while the four types of organizational justice were not significant predictors of the metaphor of the ledger. The effects of constructs from the Theory of Interpersonal Behavior performed as expected with the exception of the direct relationship between facilitating conditions and cyberloafing behavior. Overall, the results suggest that combining these two models provides a rich explanation of antecedents to cyberloafing.

The role of task characteristics and organizational culture in non-work-related computing

Many organizations have created control mechanisms and discipline systems to prevent employees from engaging in non-work-related computing (NWRC). Since such control mechanisms and discipline systems often fail to reduce NWRC, it is necessary to delineate task characteristics and organizational cultures that can enhance the effectiveness of NWRC management. Based on a fit perspective, we examined the effects of task characteristic-control mechanism fit and organizational culture-discipline system fit on employees' NWRC behaviors and attitudes toward NWRC discipline systems. Two separate studies on full-time employees in Asian organizations revealed three important findings. First, when task non-routineness was high, NWRC control mechanisms were less effective in reducing NWRC behavior. Second, progressive (punitive) discipline systems were associated with greater satisfaction with the discipline system in bureaucratic cultures, whereas positive discipline systems were related to higher satisfaction in innovative and supportive cultures. Finally, positive discipline systems were also associated with reduced NWRC behavior in innovative cultures.

Capturing user readiness to interact with information systems

Drawing on an understanding of user experiences in interacting with information systems grounded in Activity Theory, this study posits a new psychological construct, information system interaction readiness (ISIR), to capture how ready an individual is to interact with each of the systems available for a task. This construct reflects the affective, cognitive and behavioral components of user situated attitude toward taking mediated actions involving input interface, output interface and communication rules in a user-system interaction activity. Two versions (long and short) of a measurement instrument were developed, and validation studies were conducted. The results showed that the two versions had similar psychometric properties and provided supporting evidence for various aspects of measurement validity. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.