This time it is personal: Employee online shopping at work

Abstract

Online retailers may like to promote the relaxing image of consumers shopping online while wearing pyjamas or lounging on the couch; however, the reality is that online shoppers are more likely to be wearing business attire and be sitting in the office when shopping online, as they have been spending most of their (personal) online shopping dollars while at the workplace. This study focused on exploring some of the underlying factors related to personal online shopping in the workplace. In a survey of 852 employees from the USA and Canada, 72% indicated that they had shopped online at work. Americans were more likely than Canadians to shop online at work. And those in a workplace with a high-speed internet connection were more likely to shop online at work. In fact, the most popular reason for shopping online at work was the availability of a faster connection. The degree of 'permissibility' of a company's online shopping policy was positively correlated to the percentage of online shopping that people conducted at work. But corporate monitoring of online behaviour had no impact on an employee's likelihood to shop online at work; although job satisfaction was less, on average, for employees where monitoring was reported. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]