Cyber-Slacking: Self-Control, Prior Behavior And The Impact Of Deterrence Measures

To further our understanding about how to control Internet abuse in the workplace, this study examines how a person’s level of self-control leads to cyber-slacking, how deterrence measures commonly used within organizations impact individual decisions to cyber-slack, and how self-control moderates the relative salience of one of the commonly used deterrence mechanisms against cyber-slacking, detection (monitoring) systems. The results suggest that individuals that rate low in self-control overlook potential consequences for abusing the Internet in favor of immediate rewards, thus they have difficulty self-regulating themselves and have a higher propensity to cyber-slack. The results also indicate that detection systems and awareness of the enforcement of sanctions are the biggest deterrents on individual intentions to cyber-slack and detection systems are even more salient to individuals that rate low in self-control.