TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose Internet monitoring in organizations can be used to monitor risks associated with Internet usage and information systems in organizations, such as employees' cyberloafing behavior and information security incidents. Extant research has mainly discussed the effect of Internet monitoring in achieving the targeted goals (e.g. mitigating cyberloafing behavior and information security incidents), but little attention has been paid to the possible side effects of Internet monitoring. Drawing on affective events theory, the authors attempt to reveal that Internet monitoring may cause side effects on employees' Internet usage policy satisfaction, intrinsic work motivation and affective organizational commitment.Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a field experiment in a software development company. In total, 70 employees participated in the study. Mann–Whitney U test was employed to analyze the data.Findings The results suggest that Internet monitoring decreased employees' satisfaction with the Internet usage policy, intrinsic work motivation, as well as affective organizational commitment.Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by examining the side effects of Internet monitoring on employees. It also has implications for organizations to make appropriate decisions regarding whether to implement Internet monitoring.
VL  - 30
IS  - 6
SN  - 1066-2243
DO  - 10.1108/INTR-08-2019-0360
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-08-2019-0360
AU  - Jiang Hemin
AU  - Tsohou Aggeliki
AU  - Siponen Mikko
AU  - Li Ying
PY  - 2020
Y1  - 2020/01/01
TI  - Examining the side effects of organizational Internet monitoring on employees
T2  - Internet Research
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 1613
EP  - 1630
Y2  - 2024/04/25
ER  -