To Connect or disconnect - That is the question: ICT self-discipline in the 21st century workplace

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the workplace are increasingly connecting employees to people and sources of information. As a result, this ICT connectivity has had both a positive and a negative impact on employee productivity. Existing literature suggests that further investigation on 'self-control' in the context of employee connectivity is necessary. To address this we introduce the idea of ICT self-discipline - An individual's ability to control their behaviours towards use of ICTs. We investigated ICT self-discipline through interviews and focus groups. That research led to the development of an empirically grounded instrument for measuring employee ICT self-discipline. Preliminary statistical results are promising and are returning reliable scores. This paper reports on part of a larger project that investigates the influence ICT self-discipline has on the effect of ICT connectivity on employee productivity. Findings from this research contribute to IS research and inform practice.