Personal use of technology at work: a literature review and a theoretical model for understanding how it affects employee job performance

Abstract

Employee personal use of technology at work (PUTW) -defined as employees' activities using organisational or personal IT resources for non-work-related purposes while at work -is increasingly common. Our review of existing PUTW studies (n = 137) suggests that previous studies widely discussed PUTW outcomes, antecedents, and policies. The literature review also indicates that previous studies proposed opposing viewpoints regarding the effect of PUTW on employee job performance, but few studies offered empirical evidence. Consequently, the conditions under which PUTW can increase or decrease employee job performance have not been discussed. We develop a theoretical model for increasing the understanding of this issue. Our model suggests that executive attention is an important underlying mechanism through which PUTW affects employee job performance. We further suggest the effect of PUTW on executive attention (and job performance) depends on PUTW behavioural characteristics in terms of four dimensions: PUTW cognitive load, PUTW arousal level, PUTW timing, and PUTW frequency/duration. The model can advance researchers' understanding of the possible conditions under which PUTW may increase or decrease employee job performance. The model also offers new insights into existing studies on PUTW antecedents and policies. As a result, our proposed model provides new theoretical guidance for future studies on PUTW.

Does cyberloafing and person‐organization fit affect employee performance? The mediating role of innovative work behavior

“…Second, the findings imply that consider an employee's response to the external environment (Jiang et al., 2021). Two types of attention have been discussed in cognitive psychology literature: involuntary attention, and executive attention (Pashler et al., 2001).…”

“…Referring to the literature belonging to Jiang et al (2021), this research also provides new insights into previous studies on cyberloafing antecedents and policies by clarifying some possible situations in which a positive or negative perspective should be adopted to study cyberloafing antecedents and policies.…”

“…In summary, previous studies have provided evidence that cyberloafing produces various outcomes. Some cyberloafing outcomes (such as mental recovery, work‐life balance, and increased positive emotion) can increase employee job performance; whereas other cyberloafing outcomes (such as reduced work time, mental distraction, and increased negative emotion) can decrease employee job performance (Jiang et al., 2021). The opposing viewpoints above have further led scholars to discuss cyberloafing antecedents (i.e., what factors may result in cyberloafing) and cyberloafing policies (i.e., what policies should be adopted to regulate cyberloafing) from two opposing perspectives (Jiang et al., 2021).…”

“…Generally speaking, the opposing viewpoints on cyberloafing outcomes have led scholars to discuss cyberloafing policies from two opposite perspectives (Jiang et al., 2021). The scholars’ studies have suggested that cyberloafing should be allowed in some situations (Ivarsson & Larsson, 2011), and cyberloafing should not be addressed uniformly with deterrence policies.…”

Why cyberloafing can be socially learned in the workplace: the role of employees' perceived certainty of formal and informal sanctions

“…Anecdotal evidence suggests that cyberloafing is currently the way in which employees most frequently waste time at work. A recent study reports that employees spend 1-2 h every workday on cyberloafing, accounting for 10-30% of their work time (Jiang et al, 2021). Given its prevalence in the workplace, cyberloafing is often considered a counterproductive or deviant workplace behavior that harms organizational productivity (D'Abate and Eddy, 2007;Wu et al, 2020;Jiang et al, 2020).…”