Privacy poses a challenge to companies, which strive to strike a balance between economic interests and moral obligations. Employees claim their right to privacy, but economic reasoning seems to warrant restrictions of employee privacy, since less privacy means more control. However, is there really a conflict between privacy and profit?In his study Andreas Ostermaier investigates effects of employee privacy that are in line with company interests and thus might resolve the conflict between privacy and profit. Specifically, the author investigates how intrinsic motivation, creativity, and job satisfaction are related to privacy. It turns out that employees who can achieve as much privacy as they desire are more motivated and more satisfied with their job.The study contributes to the ongoing debate about privacy in organizations as well as society at large. It introduces a measure to quantify the manifold aspects of privacy and finds support for positive effects of
privacy, but also shows that these effects are not obvious. The study is therefore a first step toward making the business case for employee privacy.
1. The Business Case for Employee PrivacyThe Ethical Challenge of Employee Privacy - An Analytical Approach to the Privacy Challenge - Making the Business Case for Employee Privacy2. Conceptualization of Employee PrivacyThe Relationship between Privacy and Control - The Balance between Achieved and Desired Privacy - Perceived vs. Objective Privacy - Privacy Regulation Behaviors3. Development of a Measure of Employee PrivacyThe Development of Measures - Development of the Initial Items - Validation of the Measure - Final Measure of Employee Privacy4. The Effects of Privacy on Creativity and Job SatisfactionPrivacy and Creativity - Privacy and Job Satisfaction - The Mediating Effects of Empowerment - The Control Variables and their Effects5. Empirical Test of the Effects of PrivacyResearch Setting, Participants, and Procedures - The Measures - Statistical Procedures - Results of the Empirical Analysis6.
Discussion of the ResultsSummary of the Results - Limitations and Implications for Research - Managerial ImplicationsAppendix A-DStatistics and Tests - Tables - German Questionnaire - English QuestionnaireBibliographyIndex
Andreas Ostermaier is a postdoctoral research fellow at Technische Universität München. His research interests include accounting, organizational behavior, and business ethics. He graduated from the Universities of Passau, Strasbourg, and Munich with degrees in International Cultural & Business Studies, International Relations, and Business Research, and earned his doctoral degree in business administration from the University of Munich.
