Search results

According to Barber (2007), the consumer society fosters the growth of an infantile ethos. This happens because infantilization of the consumer is the best way to create new needs that the market can then answer with new goods and services. Given that neoliberalism encourages individual consumers to remain, at least partially, infantile, what position can boring, difficult, “adult” activities occupy in a neoliberal society? Exertion and hard work are in fundamental opposition to infantilization. In a neoliberal culture, then, “serious” activities – like labor, hard work, and other boring things – must be dressed up as pleasant pastimes. Today, thanks to apps, it is possible to work, practice self-care, or study under the guise of playing a game. Clearly, then, gamification – the transformation of boring tasks into pleasurable activities – is consistent with and symptomatic of the broader infantilization promoted by consumeristic capitalism.

Gamification is a fundamental feature of several health apps. When using these apps, we earn rewards and points (depending on what we do). We thus engage in a pleasurable self-governance driven by our own aspirations and capacities. Gamified self-tracking is, then, the opposite of work and work activities. It increases our productivity without oppressing us – at least at first glance. This (apparent) self-governance is a funny and pleasurable taylorism of everyday life.

The proliferation of information technology (IT) and IT-enabled devices has brought various challenges for modern organizations. These challenges are aggravated by the fact that the employees of different generations have a varying degree of expertise and ethical orientation regarding technology. This study has two primary objectives to have an in-depth understanding of technology-related ethical behavior of a diverse workforce. First, it aims to develop a valid and reliable scale to measure technology-oriented ethical behavior. Second, it investigates variations in technology-oriented ethical behavior among Generation X (pre-millennial), Generation Y (millennial) and Generation Z (post-millennial) using the scale.

The study is conducted in two steps. The first step, a techno-ethical scale, is developed with the help of the six steps of scale development proposed by Churchill (1979). These steps include exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability analysis (composite reliability) and validity analysis (convergent and divergent validity). In the second step, intergenerational variation in different factors of technology-oriented ethical behavior among generation X, Y and Z employees is explored with the help of ANOVA and mean plots.

The study suggests a four-dimensional techno-ethical scale comprising fourteen statements. These four dimensions of the scale are the invasion of the right of privacy, defamation, self-enrichment and loafing during office hours. The scale is reported to have adequate reliability and validity estimates. Results also recommend statistically significant variations in all four dimensions of technology-oriented ethical behavior among pre-millennial, millennial and post-millennial. Also, except for self-enrichment, the mean values progressively increase from pre-millennial to post-millennial. Even for self-enrichment, the mean value is highest for post-millennial.

This study is one of the pioneer studies that explore ethical orientation towards technology usage of three generations of employees.