Conceptualizing personal web usage in work contexts: A preliminary framework
Highlights
► We investigate non-work-related internet usage in work contexts. ► Personal web usage (PWU) is an umbrella concept of this social phenomenon. ► PWU, cyberloafing, and non-work-related computing are relatively positive concepts. ► We develop three types of internet deviant behavior scales. ► We construct a framework of personal web usage in work contexts.
Introduction
The internet has undoubtedly become a vital tool for task-oriented communication (Davis et al., 2002, Hilts, 2008). Even though individuals within organizations, such as employees and students, currently enjoy a number of advantages in the era of computer-mediated communication, internet users in such settings may also find themselves distracted from their work by the temptation to use the internet for personal reasons. Non-work-related use of the internet has raised social concerns, especially for corporate and educational institutions. By some estimations, more than half of web activities are personal (Greengard, 2000), which translates to time employees and students are not spending on their work.
For example, Kandell (1998) found that because college students are developing a solid sense of identity and intimate relationships, they tend to become dependent on social networking sites and other personal internet use. Dependency on the internet may cause students to go online during class, and may distract them from processing important course materials. Other studies have found that although internet-dependent students use the internet to gain social support and to reduce psychological symptoms such as depression and low self-esteem (LaRose, Lin, & Eastin, 2003), using the internet does not enhance their psychological well-being or performance on course work. Negative outcomes such as decline in study habits, missed classes, and grade drops were reported by students engaged in excessive internet use on a daily basis (Scherer, 1997, Young, 1996).
On the other hand, some scholars have argued that, when appropriately used, non-work-related internet use can have a positive influence on work productivity by providing refreshment and increasing creativity (Terr, 1999). In spite of these positive beliefs about non-work-related internet activities, these behaviors often lead to negative consequences such as productivity loss, resource wasting, increased risk of computer hacking, potential legal liability risk, online copyright infringement, and distribution of viruses (Chou et al., 2008, Greenfield and Davis, 2002, Mills et al., 2001).
Various concepts and terms have been used to describe the phenomenon, including non-work-related computing (NWRC), cyberloafing, cyberslacking, cyberbludging, on-line loafing, internet deviance, problematic internet use (PIU), personal web usage (PWU) at work, internet dependency, internet abuse, internet addiction, and internet addiction disorder (IAD). Because these diverse terms have been used in research literature without clear distinctions, it is uncertain whether scholars are describing a single phenomenon, several related phenomena, or distinct phenomena. This weak conceptual foundation will eventually lead to confusion as the field grows.
Furthermore, it is not clear what specific behaviors constitute each concept. There is insufficient empirical evidence that examines how the overarching concepts and specific behaviors fit together. For example, should checking personal email be included in problematic internet use, but not internet abuse? Is visiting adult sites at work a sign of internet addiction disorder, whereas visiting Facebook is not? No study has comprehensively examined perceptions of the phenomenon by identifying to what degree specific internet activities should be included under each overarching concept.
Finally, research on such behaviors does not concisely capture the variety of non-work-related internet activities. Although previous work has measured individual’s engagement in many types of internet deviant behaviors (see Blanchard & Henle, 2008), those studies were conducted only in the context of cyberloafing and before the dramatic rise of social networking sites (SNS). Therefore SNS behaviors, such as interacting on Facebook, were not measured in the previous studies.
Clarifying the conceptual definitions and articulating the behaviors that represent these concepts are crucial steps before further developing theoretical applications and practical implications. Accordingly, the main goals of this study are to (1) provide a typology of concepts describing internet usage for non-work-related purposes when supposedly working, (2) identify associations between each concept and specific internet activities that capture a contemporary trend of internet use, and (3) argue for an initial framework driven by our empirical investigation on how these concepts relate to one another.
Although some of the concepts mentioned above, such as internet addiction (Beard, 2002, Block, 2001, Chou and Hsiao, 2000, Nalwa and Anand, 2003, Soule et al., 2003, Young, 1999, Young, 2004, Young and Rogers, 1998) and problematic internet use (Davis et al., 2002, Jia and Jia, 2009, Shapira et al., 2003) are discussed in the literature as having mostly negative implications and connotations, other concepts such as cyberloafing (Terr, 1999) and personal web usage (Anandarajan & Simmers, 2004a) carry both positive and negative connotations. While the reasons for these distinctions seem apparent, clearly understanding differences and similarities across these concepts is not simple. For example, non-work-related computing (NWRC) and personal web usage (PWU) are difficult to distinguish. One reason is that scholars in this field often use specific terms without explaining why they decided on one term over another existing option. The taxonomy developed by Chou et al. (2008) represents a rare example of studies making an effort to distinguish concepts from one another.
The development of a clear and detailed conceptual framework can fruitfully inform future research in the field of personal web use in work contexts. In this article, the seven terms that have been systematically tested at least once through empirical research will be explicated in reference to four dimensions: definitions, causes, outcomes, and exchangeable terms (see Table 1).
Analysis of the literature on these four dimensions affords an opportunity to identify differences or similarities among the descriptions of each concept. In addition to explicating definitions, as we explore causes and outcomes in overarching concepts within the literature, we seek to identify concepts that seem similar by definition. For example, the reasons why individuals engage in non-work-related internet activities vary across the overarching concepts, ranging from convenient access (Young, 1999) to coping with depression (Ceyhan and Ceyhan, 2007, Davis et al., 2002). Also, in terms of perceived outcomes, certain concepts such as internet addiction disorder (IAD) and problematic internet use (PIU) are defined with an emphasis on problematic outcomes of using the internet excessively (Anandarajan and Simmers, 2004b, Mills et al., 2001, Oravec, 2004, Terr, 1999), whereas concepts like cyberloafing acknowledge positive consequences such as refreshment (Oravec, 2004, Terr, 1999). The following section describes seven overarching concepts and proposes a conceptual typology based on a four-dimensional explication of these concepts.
Personal web usage (PWU) refers to “any voluntary act of using web access during work to surf non-work-related websites for non-work-related purposes” (Anandarajan & Simmers, 2004a, p. 2). There are numerous PWU activities reported to date, including visiting news sites, online shopping, job search, video games, video streaming, music downloads, and online communities (Fox, 2007).
Referring to Bandura, 1986, Bandura, 1991 concept of fundamental incentives that lead to behavior adoptions, researchers found that boredom increases self-reactive incentives in order to have psychological equilibrium, thus decreasing self-regulation on work. Reduced self-regulation increases PWU engagement while working, and as the behavior increases, it can become problematic (Eastin, Glynn, & Griffiths, 2007).
PWU was found to have both positive and negative influences on work performance. Anandarajan and Simmers (2004a) discussed PWU from three different perspectives. First, from the organization’s perspective, PWU is usually considered to lead to negative consequences such as productivity losses, increased security costs, legal liability risks, and network overload (Anandarajan & Simmer, 2004a). Second, on an individual level, PWU is perceived as a dysfunctional work behavior. Third, some researchers claim that PWU is actually a positive “cyber-activity,” providing “a necessary break from drudgery or intense endeavor… so that it might increase productivity” (Friedman, 2000, p. 1563). The third view advocates that PWU is a way of managing one’s personal life and this can be constructive by contributing to knowledge gains that are necessary to be productive (Anandarajan and Simmers, 2004a, Anandarajan and Simmers, 2004b).
Cyberloafing is any voluntary, aimless, and undirected way of using web access and engaging in non-work-related activities on a regular basis, partially due to a lack of self-control at work. The notion of cyberloafing emerged to refer to deviant work behaviors (Kamins, 1995, Manrique deLara et al., 2006), meaning “the behavior that departs from norms of a reference group” (Blanchard and Henle, 2008, Warren, 2003). From this perspective, certain types of cyberloafing might be considered acceptable if the behaviors do not deviate from the reference group’s norms. Or, those behaviors could be considered deviant behaviors when they violate the norms.
Other than internal causes such as a lack of self-control and procrastination (Lavoie & Pychyl, 2001), when employees feel that they are not being treated well, they tend to engage in cyberloafing behaviors (Lim et al., 2002, Manrique deLara et al., 2006). Perceived organizational control and fear of formal punishment were found to decrease cyberloafing engagement (Manrique de Lara et al., 2006).
There have been continual debates on whether cyberloafing results in positive or negative consequences, or both. Some researchers believe cyberloafing is a “way of idling on the job” that leads to counterproductive and harmful consequences (Lim, 2002) such as productivity losses, lost wages due to decreased work productivity (Blanchard and Henle, 2008, Scheuermann and Langford, 1997, Stewart, 2000), waste of bandwidth (Johnson & Indvik, 2003), increased risk of computer hacking, online copyright infringement, and increased risk of computer viruses (Blanchard and Henle, 2008, Chou et al., 2008, Greenfield and Davis, 2002, Mills et al., 2001).
On the other hand, some researchers argue that cyberloafing is not always inappropriate, but is rather innocuous if properly controlled (Blanchard & Henle, 2008); they acknowledge the internet can provide internet users with creativity, flexibility, and ‘camaraderie’ (Blanchard and Henle, 2008, Anandarajan and Simmers, 2004a, Anandarajan and Simmers, 2004b, Belanger and Van Slyke, 2002, Block, 2001, Greenfield and Davis, 2002, Oravec, 2004, Stanton, 2002).
Blanchard and Henle (2008) claim that cyberloafing can be divided into two sorts: minor cyberloafing and serious cyberloafing. Minor cyberloafing (e. g., reading personal emails) is considered innocuous whereas serious cyberloafing (e. g., adult websites, downloading copyrighted files) is perceived to be problematic and inappropriate. Research has found that minor cyberloafing is more prevalent than serious cyberloafing (Blanchard and Henle, 2008, Lavoie and Pychyl, 2001, Lim et al., 2002, Manrique deLara et al., 2006). However, when time and consequences are taken into consideration, minor cyberloafing can be just as harmful as serious cyberloafing. For example, if a student spends 5 h a day in minor cyberloafing activities, its can bring seriously negative consequences on his/her school performance.
NWRC indicates the use of the organization’s internet services or resources for personal aims that are not directly related to the organization’s goals (Chou et al., 2008, Wong et al., 2005). Different from cyberloafing, which sees the behaviors as slacking and aimless, NWRC has been used to describe behaviors that are more focused on personal goals and aims.
Lack of self-control, unconscious personal habit, perceived internet service accessibility, environmental conditions and individual behavioral styles have all been claimed as causes for NWRC (Bock & Ho, 2009). However, comparatively insufficient empirical evidence made it difficult to further investigate this concept.
Similar to PWU or cyberloafing, NWRC is discussed with both positive and negative sides. Some researchers argue that NWRC allows more freedom for internet usage, and this can lead users to feel happy and gratified, and consequently more productive (Chou et al., 2008). On the contrary, others focus on negative consequences of NWRC on individuals, such as productivity loss (Bock & Ho, 2009), and on organizations, such as security concerns, reduced bandwidth, and legal issues (Case & Young, 2002).
Internet abuse refers to non-work-related and unauthorized use of internet access for individual pleasure (Lee, Lim, & Wong, 2005). Regarding the tone of this concept, some researchers argue that specific and self-explanatory terms such as ‘excessive internet use’ could be more appropriate than socially negative terms like internet abuse (Beard, 2002, Bryant and Zillmann, 2002). Other researchers argue that internet abuse is a mild form of internet addiction (Griffiths, 2003, Young, 2004). Griffiths (2003) adopted six subtypes of internet addiction to develop a typology of internet abuse. These subtypes include cybersexual internet abuse (e.g., wasting time on online pornographic sites), internet activity abuse (e.g., gaming, online gambling, online stocks, e-auction, travel booking), online friendship/relationship abuse (e.g., creating deceptive personas), online information abuse (e.g., wasting time for searching irrelevant information), criminal internet abuse (e.g., online sexual harassment), and miscellaneous internet abuse (e.g., activity not included in the previous subtypes such as creating fake celebrity images).
Other than these six subtypes of internet abuse behaviors, it is noteworthy that minor cyberloafing behaviors, such as sending non-work-related emails, have been identified as internet abuse behaviors (Case and Young, 2002, Chou et al., 2008, Greenfield and Davis, 2002, Lim et al., 2002). This may imply that these activities can be considered internet abuse when performed with malicious intentions.
External causes such as affordability (e.g., free access to the internet), anonymity, convenience (i.e., easy access to the internet), long working hours, and social acceptability are claimed as reasons that increase internet abuse behaviors (Griffiths, 2003). Internal causes include escapism (Griffiths, 2003), low self-esteem (Chen, Chen, & Yang, 2007), and loss of self-control (Padilla-Walker, Nelson, Carroll, & Jensen, 2009).
Negative outcomes of internet abuse include wasted time (Malachowski, 2005), productivity loss (Sharma & Gupta, 2003), security risks, network congestion, and legal liabilities in relation to sexual harassment and online crimes (Chou et al., 2008, Panko and Beh, 2002).
Problematic internet use (PIU) is a broad negative concept that describes “an individual’s inability to control his or her internet use” (Shapira et al., 2003, p. 208), behavioral addiction that focuses on particular online activity (Davis et al., 2002), dysfunctional use of the internet (Shapira et al., 2003), psychological dependency (Bradley, 1990), and impulsive control disorder (Shapira et al., 2003, Young, 1999, Young and Rogers, 1998).
PIU is mainly concerned with internal causes such as unstable emotional and psychological states. Researchers report diminished impulse control (Davis et al., 2002), depression, loneliness (Davis et al., 2002), a tendency to procrastinate (Davis et al., 2002), and social rejection (Lavoie & Pychyl, 2001) as primary reasons that increase PIU engagement. For problematic internet users, the internet is used to avoid stressful events or heavy tasks, to avoid feeling pressure, to gain social comfort.
PIU deals with negative personal (e.g., productivity loss), psychological (e.g., loneliness), and social consequences (e.g., job turnover) (Brenner, 1997, Davis et al., 2002, Kraut et al., 1998, Young, 1996). Although some people use the internet to engage in social activity and widen their social sphere, PIU researchers argue that it ironically decreases time spent on face-to-face interactions. Consequently, problematic internet users begin to feel even lonelier due to a lack of human face-to-face interaction (Davis et al., 2002).
According to Mosby’s Medical, Nursing & Allied Health Dictionary, addiction refers to “compulsive and uncontrollable dependence on a substance, habit, or practice to such a degree that cessation causes severe emotional, mental, or physiologic reactions.” Marlatt, Baer, Doncan, and Kivlahan (1988) define media addiction as “a repetitive habitual pattern that increases the risk of disease and/or associated personal and social problems” (p. 224). Young first introduced the notion of internet addiction in 1996 at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association. The concept often involves “loss of control despite volitional attempts to abstain or moderate use,” and is considered a type of “behavioral addiction,” or “process addiction” (Chou and Hsiao, 2000, Soule et al., 2003).
Based on Griffiths’s six criteria for behavioral addiction, researchers developed criteria to examine internet addiction among students (Young, 2004). The criteria include salience (i.e., using the internet becomes the most important activity in my life), mood modification (i.e., I use the internet to escape from the real world and to be aroused), tolerance (i.e., I spend increasing amounts of time online to achieve desired effects), withdrawal symptoms (i.e., I feel irritable or unpleasant when I am offline), conflict (i.e., my internet use causes conflicts with friends and family), and relapse (i.e., I tried to discontinue or reduce my internet use, but it turned out to be impossible). These criteria reflect relevant causes of internet addiction although some of them are closer to symptoms than causes.
Only negative consequences at an individual level have been reported. The outcomes are missing deadlines, losing interest in hobbies, losing sleep, preferring to be online, lacking interpersonal skills, and job loss due to consistently reduced work productivity (Fox, 2007, Scherer, 1997, Young, 2004).
Internet addiction disorder (IAD) refers to compulsive internet use. There has been a debate on whether or not IAD should be included as a diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). If IAD is included in the 5th edition of DSM, expected to be published in 2012, insurance will pay for internet addiction counseling. Young, 1999, Young, 2004 and Armstrong (2001) claim that IAD entails several subtypes (Soule et al., 2003, p. 65) such as cybersexual addiction (e.g., addiction to online porn or adult chat rooms), cyber-relationship addiction (e.g., online-based friendship established via online chatting), net compulsion (e.g., compulsive trading, auction, and gambling), information overload (e.g., compulsive Web surfing or database surfing), and computer addiction (e.g., game playing or programming in a compulsive manner). These five types of IAD are very similar to the five sub-types of internet abuse developed by Griffiths (2003). The difference is that internet abuse is also concerned with potential crime-related problems, while internet addiction disorder (IAD) does not include those issues. That might be because IAD has been developed within media psychology to cure individuals suffering from compulsive internet usage.
Block (2008) claims that people with IAD suffer from emotional problems such as depression. IAD users tend to use the virtual cyber-world to escape unpleasant moods or psychologically stressful situations. Procrastination, isolation, and loneliness are found to be significant causes for IAD that lead to compulsive internet use (Soule et al., 2003).
There is as yet insufficient empirical evidence that explores behavioral consequences resulting from IAD.
Table 1 presents a summary of the literature review in the form of a typology. The table allows us to compare across the four comparative dimensions of definitions, causes, outcomes and exchangeable terms. While helpful, when reading across columns, it is still unclear exactly how the concepts relate to one another. There are conceptual overlaps, and distinctions need to be made. Therefore, to guide an empirical investigation of the beliefs and attitudes associated with each overarching concept, we generated a set of research questions designed to provide insight into these distinctions.
RQ1: In general, is each concept associated with more positive attitudes or more negative attitudes?
RQ2: Which concepts are associated with positive consequences, such as enhanced productivity, creativity, being entertained, and attaining social comfort?
RQ3: Which concepts are associated with negative consequences, such as productivity loss, low self-esteem, depression, and reduced time for social activity?
RQ4: Do individuals perceive that the concepts have distinct causal roots? If so, are these causes internal (e. g., need for escape or as a solution to boredom) or external (e. g., easy access to the internet or distance from the professor or boss)?
The typology and research questions focus on understanding the overarching concepts that describe personal use of the internet at work. Next, we unravel the specific behaviors that should, or should not, be included under each of those concepts. Scholars have argued that using the internet for non-work-related purposes while working in an unregulated manner is a type of “deviant work behavior” (Manrique deLara, Tacoronte, & Ding, 2006). Deviant work behaviors refer to any activities that depart from the expected behaviors of a reference group (Blanchard and Henle, 2008, Warren, 2003). Applying this definition to the subject matter at hand, we define internet deviant behaviors (IDB) as specific internet uses that violate organizational norms.
Previous research on IDBs has mainly focused on cyberloafing (Blanchard & Henle, 2008). In this work, behaviors have been placed within two categories, minor cyberloafing (e.g., checking non-work emails) and serious cyberloafing (e.g., online gambling). However, this categorization has not been applied to any other overarching concepts. Also, the work in this area occurred before the rise of popular social media activities (e.g., Facebook and YouTube), thus it does not include social-media-related behaviors.
Understanding the different forms of internet deviant behaviors (IDBs) within the seven concepts is important for organizations, policy makers, and program designers to develop appropriate internet policies, effective preventative campaigns, and preventative computer programs. That being said, our next primary goals are, first, to understand the degree to which IDBs are included within each of the overarching concepts and, second, to propose an inclusion of social media activities in the measurement of such behaviors.
Robinson and Bennett (1995) proposed a typology of deviant work behaviors in order to identify conceptual distinctions between serious deviant work behaviors and minor deviant work behaviors. Based on Robinson and Bennett’s typology, Blanchard and Henle (2008) adopted the categorizations and applied them to cyberloafing, calling the new categories minor cyberloafing and serious cyberloafing (see Appendix A). We use these categorizations and broaden the terminology in order to test affiliations between behaviors and each overarching concept; we call the categories minor internet deviant behaviors (MIDB) and serious internet deviant behaviors (SIDB) (see Appendix A). These two IDB categories are distinct from each other for several reasons.
First, perceived outcomes and attitudes are qualitatively different (Blanchard & Henle, 2008). Minor IDBs (MIDB) include behaviors that are somewhat common and perceived as relatively innocuous (e.g., sending personal email, visiting mainstream news and financial sites), whereas serious IDBs (SIDB) entail behaviors perceived as potentially harmful, inappropriate, or illegal (e.g., online gambling and illegal file downloading). Due to the benign nature of MIDB, it is likely that individuals will associate the behaviors in the MIDB category with relatively positive overarching concepts. For example, checking news reports may be categorized under non-work-related computing (NWRC), but is less likely to be perceived as problematic internet use (PIU) behavior. Furthermore, depending on one’s group norms (Blanchard & Henle, 2008) or social responsibility and status, there may be variations in whether MIDB should be considered socially acceptable, whereas, in most cases, individuals agree that SIDB in work contexts are inappropriate and not normative.
Second, the two categories are quantitatively different on occurrence rates. Researchers have found that internet users within organizations engaged in Serious IDBs much less than Minor IDBs (Fox, 2007). According to internet addiction researchers, viewing pornography websites at work showed the lowest occurrence rates. However, over 85% of study participants reported that they often check non-work-related emails at work (Lim, 2002, Lim and Teo, 2005, Lim et al., 2002).
One limitation of previous work developed by Blanchard and Henle (2008) is that it does not account for behaviors related to Social Network Sites (SNS). Therefore, these studies may not accurately reflect current trends of IDBs. The use of SNS has increased rapidly, especially among young adults. Forty-six percent of American adult internet users use SNS on a regular basis (PEW Research Center, 2010), 73% of adult users have a Facebook account and 48% have a MySpace profile. Despite the popularity, there has been scant empirical research that examines the degree of individuals’ involvement in SNS in work contexts. Therefore, we generate a new category for SNS-related IDBs that includes networking (e.g., Facebook), video entertainment (e.g., Youtube, Hulu), and personals/online dating. Because SNS behaviors were not included in the original Blanchard and Henle work, it is theoretically unclear if some or all behaviors on SNS would be classified as minor or serious. Therefore, we maintain a separate category for behaviors related to Social Networking sites in addition to the other two categories (i.e., minor IDBs and serious IDBs).
The next step is to examine how each SNS-IDB, MIDB, and SIDB fits within the overarching concept. For example, it is unclear whether using SNS in class should be considered deviant or socially acceptable. If one considers using SNS while working as problematic, SNS behaviors will be more closely associated with negative overarching concepts than relatively positive ones. In order to examine these issues, we propose to examine the following research questions associated with IDBs.
RQ5: Will Minor, Serious, and SNS IDBs differ in their association with the overarching concepts?
RQ6: Will SIDB be more strongly associated with negative overarching concepts than positive overarching concepts?
RQ7: Will MIDB be more strongly associated with positive overarching concepts than negative overarching concepts?
RQ8: Will previously unmeasured behaviors related to SNS be associated with certain overarching concepts more than others?
Section snippets
Participants
To investigate the research questions above, 203 young adults were recruited through a computer-based research participation system at a northeastern university. The sample consisted of 124 females and 72 males. The participants ranged in age between 18 and 31 years old with a median age of 20. Participants reported their hours of internet use per day (less than 1 h = .5%, more than 1 h less than 3 h = 26%, more than 3 h less than 6 h = 51.5%, more than 6 h less than 9 h = 19%, more than 9 h = 3%). The
Results
Our first research question assessed participants’ attitudes toward the overarching concepts. Taking each overarching concept as an independent variable and “attitude toward the concept” as the dependent variable, a one-way ANOVA revealed two homogeneous subsets (see Table 2). The first subset was composed of concepts associated with more positive attitudes (i.e., PWU, NWRC, and cyberloafing). The second subset was associated with less positive attitudes toward the concepts, including PIU,
A conceptual framework of personal web usage in work contexts
In the previous sections, we demonstrated the applicability of our conceptual typology and provided empirical evidence to better understand the social phenomenon of using the web for non-work-related reasons when supposedly working. We investigated the phenomenon under two broad lenses: (a) we examined conceptual dimensions, assessing attitudes toward overarching concepts, and the perceived causes and outcomes of the concepts; and (b) we determined the degree to which specific behaviors should
Conclusions, implications, and questions for future research
Internet access has become ubiquitous in corporate and academic settings. Considering the increased number of employees and students who often use computer-mediated communication technology for both work and leisure, it is important to acknowledge that the boundaries between work and leisure have become blurry. One can imagine that it is just as easy to slip into leisurely behaviors while one should be working as it is to slip into work behaviors when one is not supposed to be working. In
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