Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of e‐mail interruptions on tasks and to explore the concept of e‐mail addiction within the workplace.

Data were collected from a large car rental company in the UK. The first collection method involved observing the effects of simulated e‐mail interruptions on seven employees by measuring the interrupt handling time, the interrupt recovery time, and the additional time required to complete the task given the number of interruptions. The second part of the study involved a questionnaire sent to 100 employees to capture addictive characteristics in employees' e‐mail communication behaviour.

E‐mail interruptions have a negative time impact upon employees and show that both interrupt handling and recovery time exist. A typical task takes one third longer than undertaking a task with no e‐mail interruptions. The questionnaire data show clinical characteristics classify 12 per cent of e‐mail addicts, and behavioural characteristics classify 15 per cent of e‐mail addicts in the workplace.

Observation was constrained by the timeframes and availability of the participating organisation. Measuring an employee receiving e‐mail interruptions over a greater time period might achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the impact.

The small study is the first to determine the impact of e‐mail interruptions on work tasks by observing employees, and to present a method to determine e‐mail addiction. By understanding these factors, organisations can manage workflow strategies to improve employee efficiency and effectiveness.

This paper aims to illustrate how a company's current 24‐hour e‐mail culture impacts on employees' lives outside of their contracted working hours. There are two objectives of the study – first, to calculate the average time spent on work e‐mails by employees per day outside of working hours and, second, to identify what impact e‐mail had on employees' work‐life balance by addressing three research questions. These questions aims to focus on the relationships between: employees' thoughts about company culture and their belief that their work is dependent on them checking their e‐mails outside of working hours; employees' urges to check e‐mails out of working hours and their belief that spending time on e‐mails outside of work means they are neglecting their social life; and employees sending e‐mails out of office hours and their expectation of a quick reply or action.

A case study approach was taken. Employees from a multinational service organisation were invited to complete an online questionnaire and a seven‐day diary so as to collect qualitative and quantitative data about their use of e‐mail.

Data were analysed with respect to respondents' gender, role and length of service in the organisation and discussed with respect to the current literature.

Although the limitations of exploring a single organisation are recognised, it is likely that some of the insights and lessons generated by the study will be transferable to other organisational settings.

This study identified some short‐term recommendations as to how a particular company could limit the negative impact that e‐mails have on its employees' lives outside of contracted working hours. In addition, this study will also raise awareness of the pervasion of work‐related communications into employees' personal lives and, hopefully, trigger further research into the long‐term psychological and sociological effects of a 24/7 communication culture.

There are two novel aspects to this study: the use of diaries as a method of data collection and the notion of exploring e‐mail use “out of hours”.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether four motives – conformity, enhancement, social and coping – mediate relationships between four personality types – agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism and openness to experience – and social networking site (SNS) addiction. Impulse control is included as a moderator.

The paper uses a survey to collect data at two points in time from 304 SNS users. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis.

Empirical results show that conformity, enhancement and coping motives act as mediators between various personality types and SNS addiction. Furthermore, impulse control weakens the effects of two motives – enhancement and social – on SNS addiction.

The research model included only four motives. Future research could investigate other motivational mechanisms and moderators. The research method surveyed university students in the USA; thus, results may not generalize to a different user population. The method also included only one SNS, Facebook.

The paper contributes to the literature by showing that motives of SNS use connect personality to SNS addiction. This study also shows that self-reflective factors like impulse control can reduce the positive effects of motives on SNS addiction.

Digital technologies have already changed the way we live and work. However, there has been limited exploration and discussion about the long term effects of such technologies on our brains and, in particular, how we think. The purpose of this paper is to address the impact of digital technologies on human thinking and behaviour and the consequential effects on the commercial qualitative research industry.

The “method” underpinning this paper is a combination of qualitative observation drawn from a wide range of client companies during more than 30 years of commercial qualitative practice and organisational change management. The approach also uses an analysis of recent publications, books, academic papers and face to face interviews with psychologists, researchers, a neuroscientist, internet games developers and users, teachers, parents and academics within this field.

Neuroscientists are discovering that digital technologies, in particular the internet, are changing the way our brains function. These findings are significant for society as a whole and for the qualitative research community. This paper explores the evidence, asks what this means for the research industry and society and what, if anything, should we be doing about it?

The implications for commercial research practitioners are highlighted including, research as a state of mind, differentiating between data and knowledge, deep thinking, acknowledging emotional and intuitive learning, developing personal resources, especially mindfulness and the importance of creative discipline.

The paper highlights the importance of retaining traditional thinking skills, whilst integrating the best and most useful aspects of “cyber‐thinking”.

A core concept of work–home interface research is boundary permeability – the frequency with which elements from one domain cross, or permeate, the boundary of another domain. Yet, there remains ambiguity as to what these elements are and how these permeations impact important outcomes such as role satisfaction and role performance. The authors introduce a multidimensional perspective of work–home boundary permeability, identifying five forms of boundary permeation: task, psychological, role referencing, object, and people. Furthermore, based on the notion that employee control over boundary permeability behavior is the key to achieving role satisfaction and role performance, the authors examine how organizations’ HR practices, leadership, and norms impact employee control over boundary permeability in the work and home domains. The authors conclude with an agenda for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine users’ decision-making mechanism of speculative investment behavior and its sequential consequences in the Bitcoin context from a dual-systems perspective.

Original data were collected via a survey of 334 participants with experience in Bitcoin speculative investment. The partial least squares method was used to test the proposed model.

Speculative investment behavior in the Bitcoin context is driven by strong impulse and weak self-control, leading to negative consequences. The extent of the imbalance between the two cognitive systems is greater with the subjective norm than without it, thus facilitating speculative investment behavior. Noteworthy differences in the impulse and self-control effects on Bitcoin speculative investment are found with differences in Bitcoin objective and subjective knowledge.

This study is the first attempt to empirically investigate users’ decision-making mechanism used when speculating in Bitcoin.

The aim of this study is an exploration of the behavioural addictions to work (workaholism) and to use of technology (technolophilia), particularly as they overlap in managers' work routines and expectations placed on their employees.

The paper presents a qualitative analysis of managers' comments from structured interviews and focus groups in several countries.

This research culminated in a model of various adaptations to both work pressure and need to use technology in today's business work, including the potential to over‐adapt or lapse into a pattern of addiction.

The consolidation of multi‐disciplinary literature and the framework of the model will serve as a reference points for continuing research on behavioural addictions related to work and technology.

Human resource professionals concerned with employee well‐being can utilize the components of this model to proactively recognize problems and generate remedies. Specific suggestions are offered to offset undesirable adaptations.

This is the first study to focus on the mutually reinforcing addictions to work and use of technology – an important step forward in recognizing the scope of the issue and generating further research with practical application in business world.

This paper seeks to overview the issues, concerns and challenges relating to internet abuse and internet addiction in the workplace.

Using psychological literature, the paper outlines a number of important and inter‐related areas including brief overviews of internet abuse, and the most extreme form of internet abuse in the workplace (i.e. internet addiction).

The paper reveals that internet abuse is a relatively neglected area of research and that internet abuse is a potentially serious cause of concern for employers. It also highlights that there are many different kinds of internet abuse in the workplace (e.g. cybersexual internet abuse, and online friendship/relationship abuse, internet activity abuse, online information abuse, criminal internet abuse). It is concluded that internet abuse has the potential to be a serious occupational issue.

The empirical base for the paper was based on a relatively small number of peer‐reviewed papers and relies heavily on the author's own work in the area.

Using the findings of the psychological literature, some guidance for managers on the issue of internet abuse in the workplace are presented.

Research on internet abuse and internet addiction is sparse and there is very little in the empirical literature concerning implications internet abuse in the workplace.

This paper aims to show how instant messaging (IM) service providers are helping and hindering societal mental health among young adults. That is, IM services provide users with an ability to obtain instantaneous and inexpensive support in their time of need. However, excessive internet usage may place IM users at risk of experiencing symptoms associated with internet addiction and adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The authors propose a framework obtained from coding qualitative data. They test the framework with structural equation methodology and latent mean analysis from data collected from younger‐aged Chinese and American IM users in two studies.

Younger‐aged IM users in both China and the US obtain social support from their virtual networks. However, both groups of IM users show signs of elevated levels of internet addiction and of being at risk of experiencing symptoms associated with ADHD.

Excessive IM and internet usage may hinder young adults' mental health, and the problem is likely to grow in the future. The work confirms recent trends in US psychology to consider internet addiction a mental health disorder.

Both service and public health researchers are encouraged to consider the impact of technological services, including internet usage and IM, on consumer health and well‐being. People with ADHD are particularly susceptible to internet addiction; thus, technological services may be damaging society's mental health.

The paper illustrates how researchers can engage in transformative service research, referring to research with implications that affect global consumer health and well‐being. The work also shows a “dark side” to services and the unintended consequences of service technology on public health. Both topics have not been explored in service research.

This study seeks to synthesize theories from communication, psychology and criminology to examine the factors that influence the two most popular topics in industry – internet abuse and addiction at the workplace.

The survey results of 351 responses were analyzed to test the proposed hypotheses and research model using structural equation modeling. Data were collected in Southern Science Park in Taiwan.

It was found that personality factors such as locus of control and self‐esteem significantly influence employees' internet addictions; and internet addiction significantly impacts employees' internet abuse at the workplace.

Employers should pay special attention to employees' personalities because they play important roles in internet addiction and internet abuse. Also a good internet policy will be useful especially to a panoptic working environment, which is becoming popular.

This study provides a comprehensive theoretical foundation to better understand the two controversial issues in industry. The empirical study validates the important theories of locus of control, self‐esteem, use and gratification, control, and containment in workplace surveillance and deviant behavior research.