Are Cyberloafers Also Innovators?: A Study on the Relationship between Cyberloafing and Innovative Work Behavior

In today's computer dependent business world, cyberloafing, which is briefly defined as personal usage of internet in job environment, is seen as one of the most frequent counterwork behavior, The aim of this study is to find out whether cyberloafing also has some positive effects for the organizations. In this scope, the aim of this research is to define whether cyberloafing has a positive effect on innovative work behavior of employees or not. To test this hypothesis a field study was held at Ä°nönü University/Malatya. 152 employees have filled the survey, consisting of 13 questions other than the demographic variables and the results are evaluated by factor, correlation and regression analyses. As a result a weak positive effect of cyberloafing was found on innovative work behavior. According to these results, we suggest managers to be more tolerant to cyberloafing and try to balance the needs for productivity and needs of employees rather than trying to completely eliminate cyberloafing. As most of the related literature focuses on the negative effects of cyberloafing, this study might bring a new perspective for further cyberloafing studies.