Work commitment and employees' misuse of the internet in the workplace

Abraham Carmeli*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

In a knowledge-based society, the Internet becomes a necessity for any organization. Despite its importance in advancing organizational efficiency and effectiveness, organizations encounter the phenomenon of individuals who use organizational facilities, in general, and the Internet at work, in particular, to generate personal benefits. Misuse of the Internet at work is defined as behavior that falls outside both the reference group and the hypernorms' sets of norms. Such misbehavior not only causes serious economic damages but also socially undermines the work environment and the core values and practices on which the organization itself has been built. Organizational responses aimed at coping with such misbehavior have concentrated on disciplinary actions and technical solutions to block employees' access to the Internet and e-mail programs but have enjoyed only limited success. To better cope with such misconduct, an organization must look beyond the current conventional responses to the roots of individual behavior in the workplace. In this chapter, the theory of work commitment is used to explore how distinct forms of work commitment may promote or diminish the likelihood of inappropriate individual use of the Internet in the workplace.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Internet and Workplace Transformation
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages205-222
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9781315699530
ISBN (Print)0765614456, 9780765614452
StatePublished - 18 Dec 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Deviance
  • Misuse of the internet
  • Work commitment
  • Workplace misbehavior

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