The Effects of Task Ambiguity and Individual Differences on Personal Internet Use at Work

Abstract

The present study investigates the effects of task characteristics and individual differences on personal internet use at work. Borrowing from the procrastination research, four individual differences (i.e., self-efficacy, conscientiousness, impulsiveness, and ambiguity tolerance) and one task characteristic (i.e., task ambiguity) were identified as relevant variables. For this two-part study, 49 participants were recruited. The first study consisted of an online questionnaire measuring the relevant individual differences and demographic information. The second portion included a laboratory study measuring peoples\u27 procrastination behaviors during an online task. Procrastination was operationalized as time spent on off-task activities (i.e., task-unrelated websites/applications) and was tracked by a time tracking software, WorkTime. Results showed that procrastination was only negatively correlated with ambiguity tolerance. Furthermore, task ambiguity was only marginally relevant in people\u27s procrastination behaviors. Although inconclusive, the study underlines the importance of measuring procrastination as behaviors rather than self-report ratings. The implications, limitations, and future directions of the findings are discussed