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Management Communication Quarterly
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Workplace Surveillance and Managing Privacy Boundaries

Myria Watkins Allen

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Stephanie J. Coopman

San Jose State University

Joy L. Hart

University of Louisville

Kasey L. Walker

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

According to communication privacy management (CPM) theory, people manage the boundaries around information that they seek to keep private. How does this theory apply when employees are monitored electronically? Using data from 154 face-to-face interviews with employees from a range of organizations, the authors identified various ways organizations, employees, and coworkers describe electronic surveillance and the privacy expectations, boundaries, and turbulence that arise. Privacy boundaries are established during new-employee orientation when surveillance is described as coercive control, as benefiting the company, and/or as benefiting employees. Correlations exist between the surveillance-related socialization messages interviewees remember receiving and their attitudes. Although little boundary turbulence appeared, employees articulated boundaries that companies should not cross. The authors conclude that CPM theory suppositions need modification to fit the conditions of electronic surveillance.

Key Words: electronic surveillance • employee privacy • communication privacy management theory

Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 2, 172-200 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0893318907306033
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