Abstract
Organizations have become increasingly concerned about employee use of the Internet for personal reasons while at work. Monitoring Internet usage has become more and more prevalent in the workplace. While there may be legitimate business functions such as employee performance appraisal that are served by monitoring, poorly designed and communicated monitoring practices can have negative effects on employee morale and may be considered an invasion of privacy. Universities are another venue where Internet monitoring occurs. This paper explores whether there was a significant difference in attitude towards Internet usage and monitoring at the university as compared to the workplace. It is the result of a comparative study.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alge, B. J., Ballinger, G. A., & Green, S. G. (2004). Remote control: predictors of electronic monitoring intensity and secrecy. Personnel Psychology, 57(2), 377–411. Durham: Summer (2004).
Anandarajan, M., Simmers, C., & Igbaria, M. (2000). An exploratory investigation of the antecedents and impact of internet usage: an individual perspective. Behavior and Information Technology, 19, 69–85.
Grodzinsky, F., & Gumbus, A. (2005). Internet and productivity: ethical perspectives on workplace behavior. Journal of Information Communication and Ethics in Society, 3, 249–256. supplement.
Hall, L. (2004). Where to draw the line. Personnel Today. Sutton: June 1, 2004. p. 16.
Introna, L. (2001). Workplace surveillance, privacy and distributive justice. In Spinello and Tavani (Eds.), Readings in cyberethics (pp. 418–429). Jones and Bartlett
Lim, V. K. G. (2002). The IT way of loafing on the job: cyberloafing, neutralizing and organizational justice. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(5), 675–694.
Peterson, D. K. (2002). Computer ethics: the influence of guidelines and universal moral beliefs. Information Technology & People, 15(4), 346–362. West Linn.
Petrovic-Lazarevic, S., & Sohal, A. (2004). Nature of e-business ethical dilemmas. Information Management & Computer Security, 12(2/3), 167. Bradford.
Soat, J. (2005). Spamming the globe, surfing at work. Information Week, (1039), 76. Manhasset: May 16, 2005.
Tavani, H. (ed) (2004), Readings in cyberethics, Jones and Bartlett, p. 418–429.
Taylor, J. S. (2000). Big business as big brother: is employee privacy necessary for a human-centered management organization? Business and Professional Ethics Journal, 19(3), 13.
Urbaczewski, A., & Jessup, L. M. (2002). Does electronic monitoring of employee internet usage work? Communications of the ACM, 45(1), 80–84.
Van Slambrouck, P. (2000). E-mail ethics: you’ve got pink slip. Christian Science Monitor, 92(193), 1. 08827729.
Wakefield, R. (2004). Computer monitoring and surveillance. The CPA Journal, 74(7), 52. New York: Jul 2004.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Matthew North for his helpful comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Grodzinsky, F.S., Gumbus, A. & Lilley, S. Ethical implications of internet monitoring: A comparative study. Inf Syst Front 12, 433–441 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-009-9205-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-009-9205-9