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

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.