Uso das tecnologias da informação e comunicação para fins pessoais no ambiente de trabalho: um estudo comparativo a partir de diferentes posicionamentos organizacionais em relação à utilização dessas tecnologias

Abstract

Considering that the personal use of ICTs in the workplace is a phenomenon whose individuals take advantage of their access to these technologies during work hours to engage in personal activities not related to work purposes, contemporary organizations have been positioned, in a permissive or restrictive way, in relation to these issues by putting into practice different strategies and control measures. Accordingly, the present research had as general objective to compare the manifestation of the personal use of information and communication technologies in the workplace between organizations that differ by their positioning in relation to this type of use during office hour. To reach this objective, a descriptive study was developed, with a qualitative approach based on the comparative method. After screening for the choice of the participating companies, five ICT sector organizations based in Rio Grande do Sul, with 10 employees or more, were adopted. Three organizations characterized by their permissive positioning of the use of the TICs for personal ends in the work environment and two by their restrictive positioning. The data collection took place through direct observation and interviews from a semi - structured script elaborated by the author based on the theoretical reference plus the projective technique thematic perception. In each company analyzed, a manager and three employees were assigned as analysis units to participate in the interviews, totaling 20 interviewees. The content analysis technique was used to analyze the data. The results showed that in the permissive companies, the corporative Internet was shown to be used by the majority of the interviewees for personal purposes in the work environment, while in the restrictive ones, in order to control the organization over their internet network, interviewees demonstrated to use a particular plan of mobile internet, as an alternative. It was verified that informational activities were manifested more often by individuals from restrictive companies, whereas social activity accessing virtual social networks was more frequently cited by interviewees of permissive companies. Among the potential antecedents of the use of ICTs for personal purposes in the work environment, the technological work environment, the excessive or problematic use of ICTs and the habit were cited in permissive companies and restrictive companies similarly. The antecedent subjective norms and social factors and the positive perception about the behavior manifested in both positions, however, with small differences and the antecedent facilitating environmental conditions manifested only in restrictive companies. The consequent negative losses in productivity and efficiency and the consequent positive recovery in situations of fatigue and stress and the balance between the personal and professional spheres manifested themselves in a similar way in the companies analyzed independently of their positions. In this sense, it is understood that while the differences found arise from the particularities of the positioning and their respective strategies and control measures, the similarities may have explanations of behavioral order, since they were manifested by individuals who experience divergent organizational contexts and also because of the existence in the two restrictive companies analyzed of the possibility of circumventing the positioning and control measures.