An investigation of the determinants of employees' decisions to use organizational computing resources for non-work purposes

Abstract

Internet access in the workplace has become ubiquitous in many organizations. Often, employees need this access to perform their duties. However, many studies report a large percentage of employees use their work Internet access for non-work-related activities. These activities can result in reduced efficiency, increased vulnerability to cyber attack, and legal liability.

Previous models of technology adoption and usage can give us some insight into this phenomenon, but they lack the ability to explain the moral decision making aspect that is involved when technology is used in a manner other than allowed by organizational policies.

In this dissertation, we create and test a predictive model of the moral decision making process concerning three different categories of personal Internet usage at work (PIUW): informational, social, and adult-related. Our results indicate that perceived difficulty, perceived moral intensity, social influence, perceived personal risk, perceived benefits, and knowledge of organizational policy all have significant impacts on moral judgment concerning informational and social PIUW and all of these except perceived moral intensity and social influence also significantly impact intention for both informational and social PIUW. However, many of these factors are not significant in predicting moral judgment and intention concerning adult-related PIUW.