Abstract
Individual differences such as personality and demographic factors have effects on how people react to Electronic Performance Monitoring (EPM), yet the literature on this aspect of electronic monitoring has been scattered. The present paper summarizes this body of empirical research and presents a framework for organizing current research findings based on two dimensions: the probability of successful work under the monitoring and the probability of accepting that the monitoring is of value. The framework also allows researchers to make predictions regarding additional individual difference variables. Managers may use this information to select employees who are likely to respond well to monitoring conditions and to structure monitoring procedures so that they are likely to be accepted by their employees with particular individual difference characteristics.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Kristine Ross and the anonymous reviewers for insightful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. The order of authorship was determined alphabetically.
Notes
1. Note that variations on these same two dimensions have been theorized to be important in other ambiguous work-related situations. Vroom's Citation(1964) Expectancy theory uses the dimensions of valence and instrumentality to record the importance of expected outcomes and their likelihood of occurring to predict a worker's motivation. Carnevale's Citation(1986) Strategic Choice model of mediator behavior predicts a mediator's intervention strategy in disputes based on how much the mediator values certain outcomes and based on the probability that the disputants will agree. These are but two examples where two dimensions – (1) the probability of achieving certain types of outcomes and (2) the value of achieving those outcomes – have been used to explain behavior.