Internet abuse and internet addiction in the workplace

Purpose - This paper seeks to overview the issues, concerns and challenges relating to internet abuse and internet addiction in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach - Using psychological literature, the paper outlines a number of important and inter-related areas including brief overviews of internet abuse, and the most extreme form of internet abuse in the workplace (i.e. internet addiction). Findings - The paper reveals that internet abuse is a relatively neglected area of research and that internet abuse is a potentially serious cause of concern for employers. It also highlights that there are many different kinds of internet abuse in the workplace (e.g. cybersexual internet abuse, and online friendship/relationship abuse, internet activity abuse, online information abuse, criminal internet abuse). It is concluded that internet abuse has the potential to be a serious occupational issue. Research limitations/implications - The empirical base for the paper was based on a relatively small number of peer-reviewed papers and relies heavily on the author's own work in the area. Practical implications - Using the findings of the psychological literature, some guidance for managers on the issue of internet abuse in the workplace are presented. Originality/value - Research on internet abuse and internet addiction is sparse and there is very little in the empirical literature concerning implications internet abuse in the workplace.