The role of anomia on the relationship between organisational justice perceptions and organisational citizenship online behaviours

Abstract

Purpose – Anomic feelings (AFs) are predicted to play a moderating role in the relationship between organisational justice perceptions and the citizenship use of the organisation's internet access, or cybercivism. The purpose of this paper is to hypothesise that, just as AFs are supported in prior research as able to intensify the negative effects of organisational justice (OJ) on cyberloafing, they will also intensify the positive effects of OJ on cybercivism. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 270 (17 per cent) of the 1,547 respondents at a public university. Findings – Except in the case of procedural justice, the results support that AF act as a moderator of the OJ/cybercivism link because, among employees with comparatively less AF, the perceptions of the OJ under study (distributive, procedural and interactional) had a stronger impact on cybercivism. Research limitations/implications – To generalise from a convenience sample of 17 per cent to the entire University is unfeasible, let alone the “public sector” as a whole for a whole culture/country. Therefore, the paper only aims to be an early exploration of actual phenomenon, and to provide new insights necessary to understand the impact of pervasive new media and information and communication technologies (ICTs) on individual behaviour in virtual work settings. Practical implications – The findings contribute to an improved understanding of the influence of OJ on cybercivism. As a moderator, anomia is supported in our sample as one of the key “controllers” of the OJ predictions on cybercivism and sets a new scenario in seeking electronic business effectiveness. By encouraging convincing values and equity in the workplace, organisational management seems be on the right path to create the proper context for cybercivism to occur. Originality/value – Employee AFs are shown to be a moderator in the relationship between OJ and cybercivism. This is the first empirical test of this interaction.