Electronic Performance Monitoring: Review of Theories, Conceptual Framework, and Study Proposal

Use of electronic monitoring techniques in organizational settings has significantly gained in relevance in recent years, predominantly due to the increased availability of corresponding information and communication technologies. Moreover, the restricted social mobility due to COVID-19 and the resulting increase of home office has come along with an increased interest of employers to monitor the activities of their employees. Against the background of these developments, along with the general importance of theory-focused research, the goal of this review is to identify the theories used in the electronic performance monitoring (EPM) literature and to illustratively show how recently identified research gaps could be examined in future studies based on theory integration. A total of twelve theories were extracted from the literature and examined. Four of these theories were integrated in a conceptual framework. In addition, a study design for future research is outlined. The overall objective of the present contribution is to strengthen the theoretical foundation of the EPM research field.