IT Consumerization and Compliant Use: Do Policies Matter?

Facing the ongoing IT consumerization trend, organizations take different strategies that permit or regulate the acquisition and use of consumer-originated IT devices at the workplace. This paper investigates the effect of two types of IT consumerization strategies (‘laissez-faire’ and ‘middle ground’) on the policy-related attitudes of employees and their level of policy-compliant device usage (voice, email, and data) at two higher education institutions. Based on hypotheses derived from two theories – i.e., procedural justice theory and transaction cost theory – and mixed methods interviews with 36 employees, our findings suggest a paradox where middle ground strategies accommodating for IT consumerization are associated with a higher understanding of, but a lower satisfaction with these policies. Differences in compliant behavior are found for voice and data usage on professional devices. Extending the procedural justice view, we conclude that transaction cost theory serves as a complementary lens to explain policy compliance.