Determinants of cyberloafing: a comparative study of a public and private sector organization

Abstract

Purpose Cyberloafing is the personal use of internet while at work. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors affecting cyberloafing between public and private sector organizations. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the multiple motivational factors with the help of a theoretical paradigm, renowned as theory of interpersonal behavior (TIB). Data were collected through questionnaire to investigate the different behavioral factors between the public and private sector organizations. PLS path modeling and PLS-MGA are used to access the results on SMARTPLS 2.0 software. Findings Results show that the three factors of habit, intention, and social influences taken from the TIB model are important and have a higher path coefficient in a public sector organization setting. The factors of affect, facilitating condition and perceived consequences from TIB are greater in a private sector organization and have a higher path coefficient. By contrast, in multiple group analysis, results show that some factors are more predictive of cyberloafing behavior in a public sector organization, whereas other factors are more predictive for a private sector organization. Practical implications The findings of the current research are beneficial for both organizations and contribute toward policy-making decisions. These results help the managers of public and private sector organizations to decide how to control cyberloafing behavior by focusing on the important factors that lead to it. Originality/value This study shows strong and significant differences between the two types of organizations in terms of path coefficient. This implies that cyberloafing factors have different impacts on different organizations. The study fills an important gap in comparing public and private sector organizations with respect to cyberloafing behavior and clarifying which factors are more effective in predicting cyberloafing behavior according to type of organization. The paper is of great value for both kinds of organizations that face cyberloafing behavior issues.

Cyberloafing among the Civil Servants: Evidence from Malaysia

“…For instance, [22] showed that the lack of job satisfaction was not considerably linked with cyberloafing or personal usage of internet in the workplace, [23] suggested that job satisfaction is entirely not related to cyberloafing on a desktop but is associated with cyberloafing on smart phones. [13], however argued that a considerable relationship is found between job satisfaction and cyberlaofing through internet abuse. Therefore, we propose:…”

“…[12] conjectured that cyberloafing is higher in the governmental organisations as compared to the private organisations. For instance, a study on cyberloafing among government servants in Malaysia have shown that 71% of employees in governmental organisations have been involved in cyberloafing during the previous five years while 6% of them were reported by the government employers to experience such behaviour several times [13].…”

Organizational Identification and Proactive Work Behaviour as Predictors of Cyber-loafing among Anambra State Civil Servants

“…The reach of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) especially the Internet has mixed outcomes for both private and public organizations alike. As much as it created redundancy in significant areas such as employment [1], it also affects productivity and sabotage behaviours in organization [2]. The ICT evolution and the availability of the internet have been identified as the leading cause of cyberloafing in the organization; with the behaviour adjudged to be injurious to the organizational productivity [3].…”

“…The ICT evolution and the availability of the internet have been identified as the leading cause of cyberloafing in the organization; with the behaviour adjudged to be injurious to the organizational productivity [3]. Critically, as much as internet surfing reduces the productivity of employees in the private sector; the public sector is equally affected by this growing menace [2]. Many studies have explored both the causes and consequences of cyber-loafing: Huma, Hussain, Thurasamy and Malik, [2] as regards the determinants in private and public sector organizations; Çınar and Karcıoğlu, [4] as it relates organizational citizenship behaviour; Ugrin and Pearson [3] as it affects employees morale with sanctions and stigma; and Lim and Chen [5] as it affects productivity in the workplace.…”

Understanding who cyberloafs from the self-control perspective: A study in the public service sector

“…However, few studies have explained cyberloafing from the selfcontrol perspective. Furthermore, the samples for previous cyberloafing studies consisted of mixed groups of working adults (Huma et al, 2017;Jia et al, 2013) and education institutions (Baturay and Toker, 2015;Blanchard and Henle, 2008) and to the best of our knowledge none in the non-education public service organizations.…”