The Dualism of Workarounds: Effects of Technology and Mental Workload on Improvement and Noncompliant Behavior within Organizations

IT-based workarounds gain increasing attention facing both negative – regarding productivity and performance – and positive – such as innovation and improvement – facets within organizations. However, experimental investigation of underlying factors and components of workarounds still remains rare. This research-in-progress paper develops a theoretical model in order to evaluate the effect of technology and human workload on positive – in terms of improvement-oriented behavior - and negative – in terms of intended noncompliant behavior – facets of workarounds in a field experiment. Compared to previous research on workarounds who mainly focused on outcomes of workarounds, we propose mental workload as a new underlying construct determining workarounds. In addition, we approach on the so far either negative or positive phenomenon from a dual-sided perspective integrating both sides. Concluding, we expect our theoretical model to deepen the understanding of the relationships of technology and workload on the concept of dual-sided workarounds.     «

IT-based workarounds gain increasing attention facing both negative – regarding productivity and performance – and positive – such as innovation and improvement – facets within organizations. However, experimental investigation of underlying factors and components of workarounds still remains rare. This research-in-progress paper develops a theoretical model in order to evaluate the effect of technology and human workload on positive – in terms of improvement-oriented behavior - and negative – i...     »