Cyberloafing, neutralization and organizational citizenship behavior

Abstract

Having and providing Internet access at the workplace not only puts an organization at an advantage; the Internet has become so ingrained in organizational functions that it becomes a necessity. However, recent research has shown that companies suffer significant losses in terms of cost, time and productivity, due to employees using the firm's Internet access for personal matters i.e. cyberloafing. Using perspectives on compensatory behaviors, we proposed that individuals engage in either neutralization or organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) as compensation for cyberloafing at work. Our findings, however, suggest that individuals who cyberloaf tend to engage in both cognitive (neutralization) and behavioral (OCB) compensatory techniques to justify their cyberloafing behavior.