The impact of information privacy concerns on information systems use behaviors in non-volitional surveillance contexts: A moderated mediation approach

Electronic surveillance/monitoring has become ubiquitous in modern organizations as advanced information technology (IT) expands organizational capacity to track system users’ daily information systems (IS) activities. Although this environmental shift surrounding IS raises an important (though largely unexplored) issue of IS users’ information privacy and subsequent IS behaviors, little is known about cognitive/psychological processes and boundary conditions underlying IS users’ information privacy concerns and behaviors under the context of non-volitional workplace surveillance. Grounded on psychological reactance theory, this paper articulates how and when information privacy concerns under workplace surveillance relate to IS use behaviors (i.e., effective IS use and shadow IT use) via psychological reactance. In addition, it investigates IS procedural fairness, a contextual boundary condition. We tested a research model using two surveys (via online platforms) data collected from a sample of 301 and 302 IS users working under electronic surveillance/monitoring systems in various organizations and industries. Using moderated mediation analyses, the results of the study show that (1) psychological reactance mediates the relationship between IS users’ information privacy concerns and effective IS use and shadow IT use, respectively; and (2) IS procedural fairness acts as a boundary condition for the given mediated relationships such that the negative impacts of information privacy concerns on psychological reactance and IS behaviors are mitigated. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.