EFFECT OF NON-WORK RELATED INTERNET USAGE ON

STIMULATING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN THE SOFTWARE

INDUSTRY

Sachitha I. P. Gunawardena and Sanath Jayasena

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Katubedda, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

Keywords: Non-Work Related Computing, Non-Work Related Internet Usage, Creativity Stimulation, Software

Industry.

Abstract: This study investigates the effect of non-work related Internet usage on stimulating employee creativity in

the software industry. Drawing from past literature this research proposes six dimensions for measuring

creativity stimulation, which include: accessibility to information, intrinsic motivation to execute ideas,

curiosity and exploration, independent thinking, collaboration and breaking down technical barriers. A

survey was conducted through distribution of a research questionnaire among a stratified random sample of

knowledge workers employed in the software industry. The findings of the research were partially

consistent with the initial predictions which stated a positive effect of non-work related Internet usage on

creativity stimulation. In addition, the research results also provided an exploratory view on the nature of

employees’ non-work related Internet usage.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the rise of Internet usage in work

environments, especially in the software industry,

there is a rising trend of employees’ engagement in

non-work related Internet usage.

We define “Non-work related Internet usage”

(NWRIU) as the use of organizational Internet

resources by employees while at their workplace for

purposes which are not directly related to their day

to day work tasks. The abbreviation NWRIU is used

throughout this paper to refer to this phenomenon.

Several studies (Block, 2001; Bock and Ling Ho,

2009; Lim, 2002; Oswalt, Elliott-Howard and

Austin, 2003) point out the negative effects of

NWRIU such as employee's productivity loss and

risks of damaging lawsuits. On the other hand, some

researchers have proposed that NWRIU can actually

have positive effects such as stress relief, creativity

stimulation and job satisfaction (Amabile, 1997;

Anandarajan and Simmers, 2004; Boden, 1993;

Csikzentmihalyi, 1996; Oravec, 2002). Despite these

two contradictory views, there is still lack of

research to delve deeper into how NWRIU affects

stimulation of employee creativity. Even though

productivity is an immediate concern with respect to

NWRIU, this research focuses only on the effects of

NWRIU on stimulating employee creativity.

1.1 Research Objectives and the Scope

The main objective of this research is as follows:

• Determining the effect of NWRIU on

stimulating employee creativity in the software

industry.

Other research objectives include the following:

• Identifying the extent and nature of NWRIU

among employees and analyzing restrictions

currently placed by organizations on employee

Internet usage.

The scope of this research is the Sri Lankan

software industry, which is rapidly growing with

strengths being recognized globally. However, we

believe the findings and implications would be

widely applicable.

1.2 Importance of Creativity in the

Software Industry

According to Sri Lanka Information and

Communication Technology Association 2007

workforce survey (SLICTA, 2007), creative thinking

167

I. P. Gunawardena S. and Jayasena S..

EFFECT OF NON-WORK RELATED INTERNET USAGE ON STIMULATING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY.

DOI: 10.5220/0003468901670176

In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering (ENASE-2011), pages 167-176

ISBN: 978-989-8425-57-7

 2011 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

skills has been identified as one of the main skills

that needs improvement in employees working on

many IT job categories, as cited by most employers.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

NWRIU has been explored to a reasonable extent by

several researchers as it is a modern phenomenon.

Lim (2002) has conducted a study on NWRIU,

collecting data from 188 working adults in

Singapore with access to the internet at the

workplace. She states that while access to the

Internet may not necessarily result in more people

loitering around, the temptation to do so is certainly

higher since the Internet makes such activities easier

and more convenient.

IT knowledge workers are more likely to engage

in a range of online activities for non-work-related

purposes at work, rather than outside their

workplace, especially since a major portion of their

time is spent at work on a typical working day.

Previous researches show that significant

differences are not shown across employee

demographics with respect to NWRIU (Stanton,

2002; Ugrina, Pearson and Odom, 2007).

Since extensive and disruptive use of NWRIU

can potentially lead to negative effects such as

reduced employee productivity, legal liabilities for

the employer and poor job performance, several

researchers have conducted research on these

negative aspects of non-wok related Internet usage.

For example, Bock and Ling Ho (2009) have

analyzed the effect of NWRIU on job performance.

Oswalt, Elliott-Howard and Austin (2003) discuss

about certain legal and ethical issues faced by IT

managers with respect to NWRIU in U.S.

organizations.

While most business organizations continuously

appear to perceive NWRIU as a purely negative

aspect, the organizational management is focused on

placing more and more restrictions on such Internet

usage. As discussed by Anandarajan and Simmers

(2004), it is important to note that personal web

usage in the workplace is a complex issue with not

only a potentially dysfunctional dimension, but also

a potentially constructive one. Further, some

researchers argue that the Internet provides a much

needed diversion at work which can lead to

creativity, flexibility, better collaboration, and foster

a learning environment (Anandarajan and Simmers,

2004; Block, 2001; Greenfield, 2002; Oravec, 2002).

Based on previous literature, there is clearly a

wide debate on the disruptive and the constructive

impact of NWRIU at work.

Together with these contradictory views, there is

no adequate research on how NWRIU in particular

affects employee creativity. Thus we review

previous research on how Internet usage in a broad

sense affects creativity stimulation.

2.1 Internet and Creativity Stimulation

Oravec (2002) suggests that allowing reasonable and

humane amounts of online recreation can indeed

have considerable advantages, which can serve to

open blocked creative channels and possibly relieve

stress as well.

Some researchers have discussed the use of

Internet for stimulating creativity on an educational

setting. Marshall (2001) in his study on creativity,

imagination and the web, discusses about

approaches that can be taken to improve education

by making use of the web by encouraging creativity

and imagination. Madden (2004) has conducted a

large scale study that looks at U.S. artists and

musicians use of the Internet and their views on

musicians use the Internet to gain inspiration, build

community with fans and fellow artists and pursue

new commercial activity. The study reports that 52%

of all online artists and 59% of paid online artists

say they get ideas and inspiration for their work

from searching online. Software industry being a

creative industry similarly to music and fine arts,

Madden’s (2004) study provides background for

extending similar research to be conducted on

knowledge workers in the software industry.

The similarity between the features of the

Internet and those characterizing creative individuals

has encouraged Shoshani and Hazi (2007) to look

for a theory that justifies the use of the Internet

environment for enhancing creativity. They

conducted their research using a sample that

comprised teachers of fashion design from several

Israeli high schools. Shoshani and Hazi (2007) came

up with ten hypotheses pertaining to the

enhancement of creativity via the Internet. These ten

hypotheses were: multiculturalism, serendipity,

cooperation, anonymity, exposure to varied

audiovisual means, breaking down technical

barriers, flexibility, constructivism, exposure to

creative people, and freedom. Except for anonymity,

exposure to varied audiovisual means and breaking

down technical barriers, all other hypotheses were

strongly supported by this study, where the research

methodology followed was purely qualitative. Using

ENASE 2011 - 6th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Software Approaches to Software Engineering

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Shoshani and Hazi’s (2007) study as a groundwork

research study, a close review of literature was

carried out on the factors that would potentially

enable stimulation of creativity in an Internet

environment.

2.1.1 Creativity and Accessibility to

Information

Csikzentmihalyi (2009) states the availability and

accessibility of information and encouragement of

novelty by organizations is an important systemic

property for encouraging organizational creativity.

Amabile (1997) has also expressed a similar view on

accessibility of information and creativity, stating

that domain-relevant skills are a core component for

creativity.

2.1.2 Creativity Stimulation through

Collaboration

Online socialization can be viewed in two different

aspects: exposure to multiculturalism and

collaboration. Several researchers have noted the

importance of these factors for enhancing creativity.

Robinson and Stern (1997) discuss about diverse

stimuli as one of the six essential elements they

consider as necessary for enhancing corporate

creativity. Moreover, Eriksen and Beauvais (2000)

empirically prove and propose a theory that explains

how increased levels of diversity within and among

members of teams increase creativity in team

decision making and problem solving. Damanpour

(1991) states organizational creativity decreases by

restrictions on information flow and communication

channels within the organization. Several other

researchers have also discussed the importance of

cooperation and creative dialogue for enhancing

creativity (Isaksen, 1987; John-Steiner, 2000;

Marshall, 2001; Osborn, 1991).

2.1.3 Creativity Stimulation through

Curiosity and Exploration

Several researchers state the importance of curiosity

and exploration for creativity stimulation.

Csikszentmihalyi (1996) points out that sustaining

high levels of curiosity is the starting point of

creativity. Boden (1993) discusses a similar view by

stating that exploring environments and their limits

are well-known paths to creativity.

2.1.4 Creativity Stimulation through

Independent Thinking

Linda Naiman founder of “Creativity at Work”

(2006) organization notes that creativity is fostered

in organizational cultures that value independent

thinking, risk taking and learning. Further,

independent thinking is stated as a creativity

stimulating factor by Stephens (2004) in her '20

Ways to Encourage Children’s Resourcefulness and

Creativity'. This can be applied to adult creativity

stimulation in an online environment as well.

2.1.5 Creativity Stimulation and Intrinsic

Motivation

According to Amabile (1997) there are three basic

ingredients to creativity: domain skills, creative

thinking skills and intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic

motivation is therefore one of the key ingredients for

creativity. Morris (2005) stresses the importance of

organizational encouragement of creativity for

developing employee intrinsic motivation. Adams

(2005) also identifies organizational support as a

crucial factor that bolsters intrinsic motivation. He

points out that intrinsic motivation increases when

people are aware that those around them are excited

and where there is information sharing and

collaboration.

2.1.6 Creativity Stimulation by Breaking

Down Technical Barriers

Breaking down technical barriers is also considered

as a creativity stimulator by Shoshani and Hazi

(2007), where increased exposure to technical

aspects is considered likely to encourage creative

outcomes. Most of the knowledge workers working

in the software industry can be considered as

technically savvy. However, there are certain non-

technical job roles such as sales and marketing,

project management and technical writing.

Therefore, the nature and extent of exposure to

technical aspects for job related tasks would vary

with the employee’s job role. Even though most

knowledge workers in the software industry would

have a natural technical exposure, there can be

variation in such technical exposure with their nature

of Internet usage for non-work purposes.

2.2 Organizational Culture and

Creativity

The software industry is relatively new in Sri Lanka.

EFFECT OF NON-WORK RELATED INTERNET USAGE ON STIMULATING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN THE

SOFTWARE INDUSTRY

169

However, the local software development companies

have developed different organizational cultures that

would vary from one software development

company to another especially with the scale of the

company and attitude of the management. The

organizational culture would play a major role with

respect to certain aspects of creativity stimulation,

such as independent thinking and curiosity and

exploration.

Cameron and Quinn (1999) researched what

makes organizations effective and successful. Based

on the Competing Values Framework they

developed the Organizational Culture Assessment

Instrument (OCAI) that distinguishes four culture

types: Clan Culture, Adhocracy Culture, Market

Culture, and Hierarchy Culture. Organizational

encouragement towards creativity would vary based

on the organizational culture type.

2.3 Personality and Creativity

As noted by some researchers, even through

creativity can be learnt and stimulated, a portion of

creativity would be innate (Amabile, 1997;

Csikzentmihalyi, 1996). This would be exhibited

through their individual personality traits.

As the research into the relationship between

personality traits and creativity continues to grow a

more complete picture has developed. Within the

framework of the Big Five model of personality

some consistent traits have emerged (Batey and

Furnham, 2006). Out of the Big Five model

personality traits 'openness to experience' has been

shown to be consistently related to a whole host of

different assessments of creativity (Batey, Furnham

and Safiullina, 2010). Some of the terms used in

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment to

determine the independent thinker type personality

include: logical, independent, self-confident,

nonconformist and visionary (Myers, 1995). These

assessment factors provide some background on

assessing an individual's personality with respect to

independent thinking ability.

Building upon the literature that has been

reviewed, this research proposes six dimensions of

creativity stimulation to be assessed for the impact

from NWRIU.

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A two stage research design was followed. First, an

initial exploratory study was conducted on the

research topic due to the low amount of research on

this specific research area. The exploratory study

helped to gather the needed preliminary information

for carrying out a fully fledged study. An initial

small scale questionnaire was distributed online

among 20 respondents from 10 Sri Lankan software

companies who were personally known to the

researcher, during the exploratory study stage.

Following the exploratory study, the core

research was conducted based on hypothesis testing.

This hypothesis testing approach was selected since

the research required explanation of the nature of

certain relationships between different variables.

Predominantly a quantitative research methodology

was followed, where the research variable

measurement was done through historical data and

analytical surveys mainly based on a Likert scale.

3.1 Theoretical Framework

The main independent variable identified for the

study was NWRIU, where the nature and the extent

of usage were analyzed as per the dimensions of the

independent variable. The main dependent variable

identified for the study was "employee creativity

stimulation", where six dimensions of the dependent

variable were identified. Dimensions considered for

the creativity stimulation variable were limited

based on the survey results of the exploratory study,

in order to maintain the research study within an

acceptable scope.

Figure 1 displays the research variables and the

related dimensions considered for the theoretical

framework:

Figure 1: Conceptual model.

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The independent variable NWRIU was

considered to have a relationship with each of the

creativity stimulation dimensions. Moderating

variables were identified for each of these

relationships based on previous literature as well as

logical reasoning.

The moderating variable identified for the

relationship between NWRIU and accessibility to

information is organizational policies.

According to Amabile (1997) intrinsic

motivation is one of the three basic ingredients to

creativity which include domain skills, creative

thinking skills and intrinsic motivation. However,

encouragement of creativity by the organization as

discussed by Csikszentmihalyi (2009) would be a

moderating variable for this relationship between

NWRIU and intrinsic motivation, since a supportive

environment would be required for the development

of intrinsic motivation. Further, personal Internet

usage away from the workplace is also considered as

a moderating variable for this relationship which

would help to consider the unique contribution of

NWRIU at work, since the research study focuses

only on NWRIU at work.

Personality of the employee, organizational

culture, organizational policies and Internet usage

away from work were identified as the moderating

variables for the relationship between NWRIU and

curiosity and exploration.

Organizational culture can potentially affect the

independent thinking habits of employees and also

there is a portion of innate independent thinking

habits that could be present through an employee’s

personality. Therefore, organizational culture,

personality and Internet usage away from the

workplace have been considered as the moderating

variables for the relationship between NWRIU and

independent thinking. Internet usage away from the

workplace is also considered as a moderating

variable for this relationship, since the research

study focuses only on the NWRIU at work.

Online social media was considered as an

intervening variable which acts as a function of

NWRIU for the relationship with the dependent

variable dimension 'collaboration'. The moderating

variable identified for this relationship is

organizational policies.

Job role is noted as a moderating variable for the

relationship between NWRIU and breaking down

technical barriers because an employee’s natural

technical exposure could differ based on the job role.

Personal Internet usage away from the workplace

was also considered as a moderating variable for this

relationship.

Based on the theoretical framework the

following set of hypotheses was developed for this

research: