The impact of the perceived purpose of electronic performance monitoring on an array of attitudinal variables

Abstract As a form of performance monitoring, electronic performance monitoring (EPM) offers the opportunity for unobtrusive and continuous performance data gathering. These strengths can also make EPM stressful and threatening. Many features of performance evaluation systems, including the organizational purposes for which they are used, can affect employee attitudes. We explored the relationships among the perceived purpose of EPM and an array of job attitudes, including fairness, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and felt obligation to reciprocate. Results indicate that when monitoring is viewed as developmental, it is judged as fairer than when it is perceived as a deterrent to future behavior and is also associated with higher levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and felt obligation. These findings suggest that employees will respond more positively to EPM when managers and human resource development professionals carefully frame the reasons for monitoring and feedback in constructive, developmental terms.