Millennial’s perception on cyberloafing: workplace deviance or cultural norm?

Meena Chavan, Bella Galperin, Alexander Ostle, Abhishek Behl

Research output: Contribution to journalMeeting abstract

Abstract

This research examines the perceptions of ‘Millennials’ on cyberloafing, as a form of workplace deviance, and uncovers their rationale for cyberloafing to better understand, how organisations can mitigate this issue. Employing a qualitative research methodology, a total of 90 semi-structured interviews were conducted. Results suggested that Millennials viewed cyberloafing to be a relatively inconsequential form of workplace deviance and a social and cultural norm among their cohort. Cyberloafing was seen as a tool to work faster and to enhance their productivity in the long-term. Other themes that emerged included, cyberloafing as an escape from boredom and a stress reliever. Many respondents justified their behaviour and explained that cyberloafing has developed as an ingrained habit and is a brilliant necessity in today’s competitive world and good for business. Our findings suggest that organisations will need to develop policies in collaboration with Millennials to reach a middle ground between deterrence and laissez-faire policies to curb this menace that is costing organizations millions of dollars in productivity.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages1
JournalAcademy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings
Volume2021
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Jul 2021
Event81st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management - virtual
Duration: 29 Jul 20214 Aug 2021
https://aom.org/events/annual-meeting

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