Developing a behavioral model for employees’ internet use in public sector using grounded theory

Document Type : مقالات

Authors

• Mohammad Mehraein ¹
• Mohammad Hosein Homayouni Rad ²
• Mohammad Mahdi Farahi
• Mostafa Kazemi

¹ Professor of Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

² Ph.D. Student in Behavioral Management, International Campus, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22067/pmt.v12i1.81348

Abstract

Extended abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, many organizational communications take place through cyberspace and web-based communication networks. with the support of the internet, many organizations have been able to do their activities virtually, and thus, achieve unparalleled business success (sadeghi arani et al., 2013). iranian managers have been faced with many challenges because of internet abuse and non-working wandering, especially in public organizations. based on the authors' consultation with some public managers involved in internet policy-making of organizations in mashhad, one of the most important related issues is how to manage behaviors and policies to optimize internet use and abuse. therefore, the purpose of this study is to categorize desirable and undesirable internet behaviors of employees as well as to explain these types of behaviors using a comprehensive model of reasons, effects, consequences, and contextual factors.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
According to the literature, the theoretical foundations of internet use and its consequences fall into two categories: behavioral theories and information and communication technology theories. in general, most research accomplished to study the affecting factors and consequences of non-work-related internet use; and less research considered the quality of internet use. moreover, no comprehensive model was found to address both favorable and unfavorable internet behaviors in the public sector indicating a research gap in relevant studies. therefore, in this study, an attempt is made to develop a model explaining both the desirable and undesirable internet use. for this purpose, the key research questions are:
-        What is the behavioral pattern for employees' Internet use in public organizations?
-        What is the model of managing employees' Internet behaviors in public organizations?
-        What are the dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of these behaviors?
-        What are the underlying factors and conditions for Internet behaviors?
-        What are the strategies for managing these behaviors?
3- METHODOLOGY
In terms of purpose, the present research is a fundamental study; in terms of method, it is an explanatory-descriptive study; and in terms of research design, it is a mixed-methods study. in the quantitative phase, through the survey strategy, the first question was addressed using the mean comparison test. the statistical population of the quantitative section is comprised of 384 employees of governmental organizations in mashhad city. the population of the qualitative section is comprised of executive experts. in the qualitative phase, the data obtained from in-depth interviews were coded analyzed by using the strategy of grounded theory, and the behavioral model was developed.
 
4- RESULTS & DISCUSSION
The results indicated that the vast majority of employees perform repetitive and daily activities, their job tasks are standard and based on rules and regulations, have little need for creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. according to the results, the causal conditions affecting the favorable and unfavorable internet use include personal, organizational, and job characteristics. in the category of personal characteristics, the concept of employee personality is one of the factors that affect internet use in the organization. in comparison with the results of previous studies, some emerged dimensions are different and some others like personality, infrastructure and technology, and management style are similar to those mentioned in previous researches. most of these dimensions are discussed sparsely and in various studies, but the current study provided a more comprehensive view. also, in the present study, new angles emerged from each of these dimensions, some of which are employee curiosity, employee professional ethics, value characteristics of employees, Internet addiction, etc.
5- CONCLUSION & SUGGESTIONS
One of the relating concepts reported in previous research is job enrichment. organizations should screen employees at the stage of recruitment and employ those who have appropriate value and human characteristics in order not to face such problems. furthermore, the management style should encourage employees to perform their tasks proactively. on the other hand, managers should undermine their employees' dissatisfaction that leads to employees' negligence and immorality and subsequently imposes excessive costs on the organization.

Keywords

• Internet usage
• Use Undesirable from Internet
• Use Desirable from Internet
• Grounded theory

References

References

Afshe, A.; Kiyanfar, F., & Shaedi, A. (2011). Investigating IT on training and impact on employee productivity in eslamic azad university, Original Journal, 4 (in Persian).

Ahmed, A. (2017). Future Internet (FI) Infrastructure and its security: A case study (doctoral dissertation, sindh madressatul islam university (Pakistan)).‏

Andreassen, C. S.; Torsheim, T., & Pallesen, S. (2014). Predictors of use of social network sites at work-a specific type of cyberloafing. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(4), 906-921.‏

Arshad, M.; Aftab, M., & Bukhari, H. (2016). The Impact of job characteristics and role stressors on cyberloafing: the case of Pakistan. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 6(12), 244-251.‏

Baturay, M. H., & Toker, S. (2015). An investigation of the impact of demographics on cyberloafing from an educational setting angle. Computers in Human Behavior, 50, 358-366.‏

Daft, R. (2000). Theory and organizational design, cultural studies.

Daneshmand, A., & Satarifar, M. (2019). Impact of internet on employee productivity in Iran economy, Journal of Economic Research, 18(68), 75-98 (in Persian).

Doran, B., & Ganji, A. (2008). Use of internet as entertainment by users 25 to 40 years old in Tehran, Journal of Cultural Studies, 1(3), 115-129 (in Persian).

Eastin, M. S., & LaRose, R. (2000). Internet self-efficacy and the psychology of the digital divide. Journal of computer-mediated communication, 6(1), JCMC611.‏

Garrett, R. K., & Danziger, J. N. (2008). On cyberslacking: workplace status and personal internet use at work. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 11(3), 287-292.‏

Gillenson, M. L., & Sherrell, D. L. (2002). Enticing online consumers: an extended technology acceptance perspective. Information & management, 39(8), 705-719.‏

Hajiyani, A., & Mohammadzadeh, H. (2014). Impact of social media (internet) on student’s national identification, Journal of National Studies, 16(1), 67-84 (in Persian).

Hashemi, SH.; Dindarfarkosh, F., & Ahmadi Mervili, L. (2008). Model of use from internet by users, media studies, 6(13) (in Persian)    

Jamaluddin, H.; Ahmad, Z.; Alias, M., & Simun, M. (2015). Personal internet use: the use of personal mobile devices at the workplace. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 172, 495-502.‏

Jia, H. H. (2008). Relationships between the big five personality dimensions and cyberloafing behavior. Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.‏

Johnson, J. J., & Chalmers, K. W. (2007, January). Identifying employee internet abuse. in 2007 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS'07) (pp. 247b-247b). IEEE.‏

Kerr, N. M. (2011). Creating a protective picture: a grounded theory of how medical-surgical nurses decide to follow a charting-by-exception policy on a day-to-day, patient-by-patient basis (Doctoral dissertation, rutgers university-graduate school-newark).‏

Lim, V. K. (2002). The IT way of loafing on the job: Cyberloafing, neutralizing and organizational justice. Journal of organizational behavior: the international journal of industrial, occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 23(5), 675-694.‏

Lim, V. K., & Chen, D. J. (2012). Cyberloafing at the workplace: gain or drain on work? Behavior & Information Technology, 31(4), 343-353.‏

Lim, V. K.; Teo, T. S., & Loo, G. L. (2002). How do I loaf here? Let me count the ways. Communications of the ACM, 45(1), 66-70.‏

Madden, T. J.; Ellen, P. S., & Ajzen, I. (1992). A comparison of the theory of planned behavior and the theory of reasoned action. Personality and social psychology Bulletin, 18(1), 3-9.‏

Moedfar, S.; Ganji, A., & Sabeti, M. (2010). Investigating social factors on user model of internet among youngs and teenagers in Tehran, Modern Sociology Journal, 3(1) (in Persian)

Montazere Ghaem, M. (2008). Impact of Internet on Human Capital and Relational Capital in Elected Universities, Journal of Cultural Studies, 1(4), 185-191 (in Persian).

Naderifar, A.; Mir, A., & Mir, R. (2016). Investigating electronic relationship in developing organizational velocity in medical university in Zabol, the Second conference management studies and human sciences in Iran (in Persian)

Navabakhsh M.; Hashemnezhad F., & Zadshampour V. (2010). A study of internet and cell phone effects on the youth (15-29 years of old) and identity change in Mazandaran, Sociological Studies of Youth, 1(1), 145-170.

Newmann-Godful, M. (2013). Distraction as a mediator of productivity: measuring the role of the internet (doctoral dissertation, university of phoenix).‏

Pikkarainen, T.; Pikkarainen, K.; Karjaluoto, H., & Pahnila, S. (2004). Consumer acceptance of online banking: an extension of the technology acceptance model. Internet research.‏

Porter, Michael E. (2001). Strategy and the internet: the new learning. ptc presentation bocconi university, milan.

Rabiei, A., & Mohammadzadeh Yaz, F. (2013). Disadvantages of social media, investigating of use of internet on students social isolaton, Journal of Cultural social Strategy, 2(6), 43-60 (in Persian).

Raphael, C. A. (2011). Internet history. International Journal of Technoethics (IJT), 2(2), 45-64.‏

Razmi, A.; Golipour, A., & Pirannejad, A. (2018). Investigation of cyberloafing, Journal of Organizational culture Management, 16(2), 503-519 (in Persian).

Sadeghi Arani, Z.; Mirghafori, H., & Sabet, Z. (2013). Ethical make decision in cyberi atmosphere and demographics factors on it: investigating internet crimes among users in Yazd, Journal of Ethical in Science and Technology, 8(1), 60-96 (in Persian)

Taheri Glondani, R. (2012). Internet and social damages. the first national conference about social media and social dameges. (in Persian)

Thrasher Iii, Andrew Justin (2013). Fielding graduate university, a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy in psychology with and emphasis in clinical psychology.

Wellman, B.; Quan-Haase, A.; Boase, J., & Chen, W. (2002, October). Examining the internet in everyday life. in Euricom Conference on e-Democracy (pp. 1-18).‏

Zamani, E.; Abedini, Y., & Kalantari, M. (2013). Training developing, how use of internet in daughter and son, Journal of Practical psychology, 3(7), 85-101 (in Persian).

Zurawski, J. (2015). Internet usage, self-efficacy, and proactive coping skills. california state university, Long