The Effects of Electronic Surveillance on Job Tension, Task Performance and Organizational Trust

Abstract Background: In contemporary work models, employees use the Internet and electronic devices more than ever. This phenomenon has also changed the way of monitoring employees and generated a new form called ‘electronic surveillance’. Objectives: The central purpose of this paper is to reveal the effects of electronic surveillance on job tension, task performance, and employees’ organizational trust. Methods/Approach: Survey research was applied as a quantitative method to collect data. Surveys were generated as Likert-type scales, and they were distributed by hand because the use of the in-person survey technique was employed throughout the study. The research sample was created using the purposive sampling technique, and it included 228 participants from fifteen different branches of one of the biggest private banks in Turkey. Results: Electronic surveillance in the workplace has turned out to have positive effects on job tension and task performance, whereas it harms organizational trust. Conclusions: When the degree of electronic surveillance increases, the job tension level of employees tends to increase as well. Additionally, task performance increases when electronic surveillance increases. But this is not the case with organizational trust since electronic surveillance affects it negatively.