An Experimental Study of the Factors Influencing Non-Work Related Use of IT Resources at Workplace

The misuse of information technology (IT) resources at workplace for non-work related purposes is an increasing concern to organizations. Such activities can increase the IT expenditure and may also result in security issues and legal liabilities. In view of these, this study aims to provide a better understanding of the factors influencing ethical decision-making process within the context of non-work related computing. It applies the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to investigate the effects of online anonymity, workplace privacy and punishment level in Acceptable Use Policy on the intention to misuse IT resources. A scenario-based experiment involving the surfing of pornographic materials and sharing of copyrighted materials through peer-to-peer software was conducted. The level of online anonymity present was found to be a significant predictor of the intention to misuse IT resources in both scenarios while workplace privacy significantly affects the behavioral intention to access pornographic materials.