The Effect of Invasiveness of Electronic Performance Monitoring on Employee Wellbeing and Performance

Abstract

Advanced and innovative technologies have significantly accelerated the organisational adoption of electronic performance monitoring (EPM), which involves using technological means to observe, record and analyse information directly or indirectly related to employee job performance. The COVID-19 pandemic has further expedited the adoption of EPM in response to the substantial shift from traditional on-site work to remote work. Despite the widespread use of EPM, we have a limited understanding of the effects of technology-based monitoring on employee wellbeing. This thesis aims to investigate the impact of EPM invasiveness on employee wellbeing and performance.

This thesis presents three studies. The first study develops and validates a multifaceted measure for EPM invasiveness. Building upon an existing theoretical framework, this study provides empirical evidence suggesting that EPM invasiveness is a multidimensional construct, comprised of EPM scope, EPM target, EPM constraints and EPM control. EPM scope and EPM target refer to the number of forms of electronic monitoring and the type of information collected by these monitoring forms, which indicate the invasive use of EPM. EPM constraints and EPM control represent the organisation's constraints and control on EPM, limiting the invasive use of EPM. The validated scale is then used in the second and third studies of this thesis.

The second study investigates the impact of the invasiveness of EPM on employee perceptions of workplace isolation in the remote work context. Prior research highlights that workplace isolation is a salient wellbeing issue for remote-working employees. This study conducted an online survey and found a positive relationship between the invasive use of EPM and employee perceptions of workplace isolation, and this relationship is mediated by employees' sense of control at work. The findings also suggest that an organisation's constraints and control regarding EPM use are effective in reducing the negative impact of the invasive use of EPM on employees' sense of control and workplace isolation.

The third study examines the impact of EPM invasiveness on employee burnout and performance. Prior research suggests that technological-based changes in management controls, such as EPM, can cause work stress, which implies increased employee burnout. In this study, the survey findings reveal a positive relationship between the invasive use of EPM and employee performance, which is negatively mediated by employee burnout at work. Further, this study shows that an organisation's external corporate social responsibility activities moderate the direct effect of invasive EPM on employee burnout and the indirect effect of invasive EPM on employee performance through employee burnout at work.

Overall, this thesis contributes to the management control literature by examining the effects of technology-based monitoring (i.e., EPM) on employee wellbeing and performance. The findings in this thesis extend knowledge on the role of performance monitoring in managing employees in the remote work environment. This thesis also contributes to the EPM literature by developing and validating a multifaceted scale for assessing the invasiveness of EPM. Show more