The Mediating Role of Electronic Performance Monitoring in the relationship between Personality Traits and Work Passion

This study aims to study the relationship between personality traits (conscientiousness and extraversion), electronic performance monitoring (EPM) and work passion. In addition, it investigates the mediating role of EPM between personality traits and work passion. Data was collected from 105 employees working in call centers throughout Pakistan. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), using SmartPLS 3.0, was performed to test the hypothesized model. The results showed that consciousness and extraversion have a positive impact on EPM and work passion. In addition, EPM acts significantly as a mediator between personality traits and work passion among call center employees. This is the first study that examines the mediating role of EPM in the relation between personality differences and work passion. The results of the study would help Asian human resources professionals effectively perform human resources functions, such as employee staffing, training, and performance management. Implications for managers and recommendations for future studies are proposed.

Electronic Performance Monitoring in the Digital Workplace: Conceptualization, Review of Effects and Moderators, and Future Research Opportunities

The rise of digital and interconnected technology within the workplace, including programs that facilitate monitoring and surveillance of employees is unstoppable. The COVID-19-induced lockdowns and the resulting increase in home office adoption even increased this trend. Apart from major benefits that may come along with such information and communication technologies (e.g., productivity increases, better resource planning, and increased worker safety), they also enable comprehensive Electronic Performance Monitoring (EPM) which may also have negative effects (e.g., increased stress and a reduction in job satisfaction). This conceptual article investigates EPM to better understand the development, adoption, and impact of EPM systems in organizations. The EPM literature published since the 1980s constitutes the basis for this conceptual article. We present a framework which is intended to serve as foundation for future studies. Moreover, we reviewed more than three decades of empirical EPM research and identified six major outcomes that are influenced by the use of an EPM system, as well as a large number of moderator variables. Based on our conceptual analyses and the resulting insights, which also include privacy, ethical, and cultural considerations, we discuss future research opportunities where we also refer to design implications for EPM systems.

Empowering employees: the other side of electronic performance monitoring

Purpose Advances in electronic performance monitoring (EPM) have raised employees’ concerns regarding the invasion of privacy and erosion of trust. On the other hand, EPM promises to improve performance and processes. This paper aims to focus on how the alignment of EPM design and organizational culture through effective organizational mechanisms can address privacy concerns, and, hence, positively affect employees’ perception toward technology. Design/methodology/approach Based on a theoretical lens extending two conceptual frameworks, a qualitative approach was used to analyze interview data collected from a comparative case study of two organizations in the USA and Qatar within the oil and gas sector. These two contexts were selected to emphasize the cross-cultural and organizational differences in employees’ acceptance of EPM. Findings The study revealed that national and corporate cultures affected employees’ perception and acceptance of monitoring in both countries. Because of diversity, though EPM was better accepted in Qatar, as they are an easy way to enforce standardization and to push employees to adapt to a dominating corporate culture. Conversely, in the USA where culture is more innovation-oriented, organizational mechanisms shifted the perceptions of EPM to being mean to obtain feedback rather than to impose standards. Research limitations/implications This qualitative study is based on a descriptive comparative case study of two organizations with two cultural contexts. The limited sample size and cross-sectional nature of data may need to be extended to a larger cultural scope that is observed over a longer period to safely generalize the findings. Practical implications Decision-makers in multinational corporations with different cultural backgrounds may benefit of this study’s outcomes, as it emphasizes the importance of the fit between EPM designs and the cultural settings. Furthermore, organizations aiming to conduct analytics on EPM data have to justify and prove its benefits to employees to facilitate acceptance. Social implications The study shows that employees in Qatar have a different cultural frame of reference in their perception of fairness and ethics than their counterparts in the USA because of changes in the meaning of social relations, personal goals and behavioral norms. Originality/value The originality of this study lays in its empirical validation of a composite framework examining both national and corporate cultures on employees’ reactions to EPM systems. It also proves the critical importance of organizational mechanisms to align the EPM design with the organization cultural settings.

“I Didn’t Agree to These Terms”: Electronic Performance Monitoring Violates the Psychological Contract

Electronic performance monitoring (EPM) is a ubiquitous organizational practice often used to increase productivity and discourage negative behaviors in a wide variety of jobs and industries. The conventional wisdom regarding employee reactions to EPM is that it leads to negative attitudes and behavioral reactions, but several recent studies have found positive effects on job outcomes, highlighting the need for research regarding the boundary conditions and mechanisms that explain these reactions. Drawing from work design theory and psychological contract theory, we propose that expectations of autonomy and beliefs about the employee-organization relationship explain reactions to EPM. We find that individuals perceive EPM as a violation of the psychological contract, and individuals with greater perceptions of job autonomy are more likely to perceive a violation. Furthermore, individuals who hold negative perceptions of EPM reassert their autonomy by engaging in covert counterproductive work behaviors, such as withholding effort. Reactions to EPM also appear to differ based on job characteristics. Future research is needed to understand the formation and maintenance of monitoring expectations and explore the role of job characteristics and context in forming those expectations.

EPM 20/20: A Review, Framework, and Research Agenda for Electronic Performance Monitoring

Electronic performance monitoring (EPM) refers to the use of technological means to observe, record, and analyze information that directly or indirectly relates to job performance. The last comprehensive review of the EPM literature was published in 2000. Since 2000, dramatic advances in information technologies have created an environment in which organizations are able to monitor employees to a greater extent and with greater intensity than was previously possible. Moreover, since that time, considerable research has been devoted to understanding the effects of EPM on individual performance and attitudes. Contradictory findings in the EPM literature exist, suggesting that EPM is a multidimensional phenomenon and one for which contextual and psychological variables are pertinent. Thus, we propose a theory-based typology of EPM characteristics and use this typology as a framework to review the EPM literature and identify an agenda for future research and practice.