When Computer Monitoring Backfires: Invasion of Privacy and Organizational Injustice as Precursors to Computer Abuse

This manuscript examines the unintended consequences that organizational computer monitoring can foster within the firm. We apply justice and reactance theories to explain why monitoring can actually increase the occurrence of detrimental organizational behaviors. Our model suggests monitoring activities that invade employees’ privacy lead to perceived injustices, which provoke destructive behavior by employees. Empirical results obtained from 439 survey respondents employed in the banking, finance, and insurance industries provide support for most of our hypotheses. Computer monitoring was found to increase internal computer abuse but not antisocial behaviors. Privacy invasions resulting from the monitoring activities were related to perceptions of procedural injustice, which in turn influenced distributive injustice perceptions. Both injustices acted as direct precursors to internal computer abuse, but only distributive injustice was a significant antecedent to antisocial behavior. We discuss these findings and their limitations in the context of modern organizations that are inundated with information-security responsibilities.