Encourage autonomy to increase individual work performance: the impact of job characteristics on workaround behavior and shadow IT usage

IT users are increasingly experienced at adapting technologies to their needs; resulting in the widespread use of workarounds and shadow IT. To ascertain the impact of job characteristics on this behavior, a survey was conducted among 415 IT users. The collected data underwent Reliability Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis in SPSS software. Subsequently, Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling were conducted with the SmartPLS software. The main results indicate that autonomy is strongly related to workaround behavior and shadow IT usage. Workaround behavior and shadow IT use have also been proven to be strongly related. However, the level of skill variety and task identity do not seem to significantly affect workaround behavior and shadow IT usage. Finally, this study’s findings demonstrate that both workaround behavior and shadow IT use are positively related to individual performance. Organizations are therefore encouraged to increase job autonomy in order to achieve enhanced individual performance by presenting workers with opportunities to adapt technologies in the form of workarounds and shadow IT. The use of such alternative solutions provides for faster and more dynamic communication and thus boosts collaboration among co-workers, external partners, and clients.