Laptops in the Living Room: Mobile Technologies and the Divide between Work and Private Time among Interactive Agency Workers

Abstract

This article examines how mobile technology use affects the division between private and work time among workers in interactive advertising agencies. These workers are frequent users of both personal and company-issued mobile technology. This article investigates the strategies workers use to restrict workplace access during their private time. Relying on the social construction of technology as a point of departure, this article investigates the impact of mobile technologies, as well as the organizational context in which they are used. Using a mixed-method approach, this article demonstrates that the use of mobile technologies does indeed render the home/work division more permeable, but it is not their use alone that determines this effect. Rather, it is the underlying social relations of workplaces that affect how individuals negotiate the use of these technologies in non-work time and space. Keywords: Mobile technology, Home/work division; Social relationsRésumé : Cet article examine l'effet des technologies mobiles sur la division entre temps de travail et temps personnel parmi ses utilisateurs dans des agences de publicité interactives. Ces travailleurs utilisent souvent les technologies mobiles autant pour leur travail que pour leurs besoins personnels. Cet article enquête sur les stratégies que ceux-ci emploient pour limiter leur accès au travail durant leur temps libre. Il se fonde sur la construction sociale des technologies pour évaluer l'impact des technologies mobiles et le contexte organisationnel dans lequel on les utilise. En recourant à diverses méthodes complémentaires, cet article démontre que l'utilisation de technologies mobiles a effectivement comme conséquence de brouiller la division maison/travail, mais ce n'est pas seulement leur utilisation qui produit cet effet. Ce sont plutôt les relations sociales sous-jacentes au travail qui influencent la manière dont les individus utilisent ces technologies en dehors de leur espace et temps de travail. Mobile technologies present a confounding development in one of the defining debates in the study of work: the division between work time and private time. The use of immobile technologies, from factory machines to desktop computers, has contributed to the spatial centralization of work on the one hand (Marglin, 1974) and to firm divisions between work and home on the other (Zerubavel, 1979). But with the widespread adoption of cellular phones, laptop computers, wireless Internet, and mobile email devices, this spatial rigidity has broken down, complicating a central tenet implicit in most employment relationships: the right of workers to restrict workplace or management access during private time.In most Western workplaces, "the individual has the right to claim control over his [sic] social accessibility during his private-time as a sort of possession" (Zerubavel, 1990, p. 122). The ability to possess and protect private time is indicative of workers' autonomy in private life. It is autonomy over one's work that differentiates a profe...

Voluntary Work‐related Technology Use during Non‐work Time: A Narrative Synthesis of Empirical Research and Research Agenda

“…increased perceived workload) due to the possibility to be able to work 24/7 has been expressed in several qualitative studies (Barley et al 2011;Cavazotte et al 2014;Currie and Eveline 2011;Noble and Lupton 1998). Work extension in terms of longer work hours has also been reported in qualitative studies attributing longer work hours to ICT use (Allen and Shoard 2005;Cavazotte et al 2014;Currie and Eveline 2011;Ladner 2008;Mazmanian 2010;Middleton 2007;Noble and Lupton 1998;Porter and Kakabadse 2006;Prasopoulou et al 2006;Stoner et al 2009;Towers et al 2006), which has also been found in several quantitative studies (Duxbury et al 1992(Duxbury et al , 1996Towers et al 2006). Further quantitative studies have also reported the extension of work hours as an antecedent of ICT use (Adkins and Premeaux 2014;Schieman and Glavin 2008).…”

“…In qualitative research, employees have frequently expressed the perceived pressure exerted by their organizational context to be constantly available and to engage in work-related ICT use during non-work time (Barley et al 2011;Cavazotte et al 2014;Currie and Eveline 2011;Crowe and Middleton 2012;Golden 2013;Harmer et al 2008;Ladner 2008;Lowry and Moskos 2008;Maliszewski 2013;Matusik and Mickel 2011;Mazmanian 2010Mazmanian , 2013Mazmanian et al 2006Middleton 2007;Porter and Kakabadse 2006;Quesenberry and Trauth 2005;Schlosser 2002;Stoner et al 2009;Towers et al 2006). Matusik and Mickel (2011) further outlined that perceived pressure to be responsive is more frequently reported with a high number of different expectation sources (e.g.…”

“…These increases have been attributed by employees to being able to use time more efficiently (Mazmanian 2010), for instance by using formerly unproductive time to do work (e.g. during commuting time; Allen and Shoard 2005; Golden and Geisler 2007;Harmer et al 2008;Lowry and Moskos 2008), or by working with fewer interruptions (Ladner 2008;Noble and Lupton 1998). Employees have also appreciated the benefits of being able to monitor continuously the information flow and thus stay on top of things by spreading out the daily workload and managing emails more effectively (Allen and Shoard 2005; Barley et al 2011;Cavazotte et al 2014;Crowe and Middleton 2012;Golden and Geisler 2007;Mazmanian 2010;Mazmanian et al 2006Noble and Lupton 1998).…”

“…Considering it a behavioural manifestation of existing tendencies to overwork, a high extent of voluntary ICT use has also been associated with excessive dedication to work, namely workaholism (Mazmanian 2010; Middleton and Cukier 2006;Porter and Kakabadse 2006). Regarding the conjecture of dedication based on voluntary ICT use, this behaviour has also been suggested as a tool for impression management, that is, to appear dedicated, reliable and indispensable to supervisors, colleagues and customers (Allen and Shoard 2005; Barley et al 2011;Funtasz 2012;Harmer et al 2008;Ladner 2008;Mazmanian 2010Mazmanian , 2013.…”

“…Despite such potential benefits, ICT use extending work into non-work time is predominantly associated with work-life conflict, as conflicting roles create interpersonal tensions. 4 The association between engaging in voluntary ICT use and negative interferences with non-work life has been a prevalent theme in qualitative studies (Barley et al 2011;Cavazotte et al 2014;Funtasz 2012;Harmer et al 2008;Ladner 2008;Lowry and Moskos 2008;Maliszewski 2013;Mazmanian 2010Mazmanian , 2013Middleton 2007;Middleton and Cukier 2006;Porter and Kakabadse 2006;Quesenberry and Trauth 2005;Towers et al 2006), as well as in numerous quantitative studies (Boswell and Olson-Buchanan 2007;Derks and Bakker 2014;Diaz et al 2012;Duxbury et al 1992Duxbury et al , 1996Fender 2011;Fenner and Voluntary ICT use and recovery. During non-work time, it is considered important for employee well-being to refrain from work-related activities and to detach psychologically from work to replenish psychophysiological resources that were depleted by work-related demands; a process referred to as recovery from work (Cropley and Zijlstra 2011;Meijman and Mulder 1998;Sonnentag 2001;Zijlstra et al 2014).…”