The Two Minds of Non-Work-Related Computing in the Workplace

As information technology (IT) advances and grows in its capabilities, employees are willing to find even more novel ways to fulfill non-work purposes while at work. Non-work-related computing (NWRC), defined as employees’ non-sanctioned personal use of the IT resources in their workplace, has attracted a fair amount of attention. In order to understand why NWRC behavior often occurs, this study adopted a dual approach considering two aspects of human nature: automatic and reflective decision-making systems. Drawing on dual thinking processes, our study aims to examine the relationships among the following: habit as a trigger of automatic thinking, neutralization as a trigger of reflective thinking, and employees’ NWRC behavior in the workplace. Our model posits that employees’ NWRC is influenced by both habit and neutralization. Survey data collected from 176 employees of several banks in Mongolia were used to test our model by using partial least squares analysis. This study found that both habit and neutralization have significant impacts on NWRC. By conducting mediated regression techniques, we also found that neutralization partially mediates the relationship between habit/neutralization and NWRC. In addition to identifying the mediating role of neutralization, the results imply that it is important to prevent NWRC from becoming habitual and to make employees internalize the importance of compliance with internet use policy.