Developing a behavioral model for employees’ internet use in public sector using grounded theory

Nowadays, many organizational communications take place through cyberspace and web-based communication networks. with the support of the internet, many organizations have been able to do their activities virtually, and thus, achieve unparalleled business success (sadeghi arani et al., 2013). iranian managers have been faced with many challenges because of internet abuse and non-working wandering, especially in public organizations. based on the authors' consultation with some public managers involved in internet policy-making of organizations in mashhad, one of the most important related issues is how to manage behaviors and policies to optimize internet use and abuse. therefore, the purpose of this study is to categorize desirable and undesirable internet behaviors of employees as well as to explain these types of behaviors using a comprehensive model of reasons, effects, consequences, and contextual factors.

According to the literature, the theoretical foundations of internet use and its consequences fall into two categories: behavioral theories and information and communication technology theories. in general, most research accomplished to study the affecting factors and consequences of non-work-related internet use; and less research considered the quality of internet use. moreover, no comprehensive model was found to address both favorable and unfavorable internet behaviors in the public sector indicating a research gap in relevant studies. therefore, in this study, an attempt is made to develop a model explaining both the desirable and undesirable internet use. for this purpose, the key research questions are: -  What is the behavioral pattern for employees' Internet use in public organizations? -  What is the model of managing employees' Internet behaviors in public organizations? -  What are the dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of these behaviors? -        What are the underlying factors and conditions for Internet behaviors? -   What are the strategies for managing these behaviors? 

In terms of purpose, the present research is a fundamental study; in terms of method, it is an explanatory-descriptive study; and in terms of research design, it is a mixed-methods study. in the quantitative phase, through the survey strategy, the first question was addressed using the mean comparison test. the statistical population of the quantitative section is comprised of 384 employees of governmental organizations in mashhad city. the population of the qualitative section is comprised of executive experts. in the qualitative phase, the data obtained from in-depth interviews were coded analyzed by using the strategy of grounded theory, and the behavioral model was developed. 

The results indicated that the vast majority of employees perform repetitive and daily activities, their job tasks are standard and based on rules and regulations, have little need for creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. according to the results, the causal conditions affecting the favorable and unfavorable internet use include personal, organizational, and job characteristics. in the category of personal characteristics, the concept of employee personality is one of the factors that affect internet use in the organization. in comparison with the results of previous studies, some emerged dimensions are different and some others like personality, infrastructure and technology, and management style are similar to those mentioned in previous researches. most of these dimensions are discussed sparsely and in various studies, but the current study provided a more comprehensive view. also, in the present study, new angles emerged from each of these dimensions, some of which are employee curiosity, employee professional ethics, value characteristics of employees, Internet addiction, etc.

One of the relating concepts reported in previous research is job enrichment. organizations should screen employees at the stage of recruitment and employ those who have appropriate value and human characteristics in order not to face such problems. furthermore, the management style should encourage employees to perform their tasks proactively. on the other hand, managers should undermine their employees' dissatisfaction that leads to employees' negligence and immorality and subsequently imposes excessive costs on the organization.