Understanding the role of employee monitoring (bossware) in shaping trust, morality, and productivity: a Serbian perspective

Sandra Dramićanin; Goran Perić; Marko Gašić; Svetlana Jokić

doi:10.71159/icemit2524D

Authors

Sandra Dramićanin Toplica Academy of Applied Studies, Department of Business Studies Blace, Serbia
Goran Perić Toplica Academy of Applied Studies, Department of Business Studies Blace, Serbia
Marko Gašić Toplica Academy of Applied Studies, Department of Business Studies Blace, Serbia
Svetlana Jokić Kosovo and Metohija Academy of Applied Studies, Leposavić, Serbia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.71159/icemit2524D

Keywords:

monitoring, trust, morality, productivity, perception of monitoring, organizational climate, Republic of Serbia

Abstract

In modern organizations, the incorporation of technology into daily work processes has become an important component of human resource management. Advances in digital tools and software solutions allow management to monitor employee activities in real time, opening up new chances for work optimization, but also challenges in terms of ethics, privacy, and the effectiveness of supervision. The system monitoring applied has a direct impact on interactive relations and organizational culture, which makes it the subject of intense academic and practical discussion. The purpose of this research was to analyze the effect of monitoring on the trust, morality, and productivity of employees in the context of the Republic of Serbia. The sample involved employees from different sectors, and the data was investigated using descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression methods, in order to investigate the interrelationships among monitoring, trust, morality, and productivity. The research outcomes indicate that monitoring has a positive correlation with employee trust, contributes to the preservation of morality values, and enhances work productivity. The research results further accentuate the importance of morality, confirming that it increases the effects of monitoring on trust, while the impact on employee productivity is not statistically significant. High employee morality can alleviate the negative features of monitoring and simultaneously sustain positive outcomes, portentous that organizations should invest in enhancing morality to balance monitoring and trust. The results contribute to filling the research gap in domestic and foreign literature, specifically regarding the psychological and organizational significances of employee monitoring in the local background. At the same time, the research argues out- organizations that implement transparent and ethical oversight can positively shape trust, morality, and productivity, thereby contributing to a supportive and encouraging work climate. Future research claims expanding the sample, different territorial spreading, comparative analysis, and the submission of longitudinal methods in order to observe in more detail the fundamental dynamics among monitoring, trust, morality, and employee productivity.

References

Ahmed, S., & Smith, E. (2023). The Future of Work: Adapting to Remote and Hybrid Models. Abbottabad University Journal of Business and Management Sciences, 1(01), 1-12. https://aujbms.austjournals.com/index.php/AUJBMS/article/view/1

Andrade, M. D., Martínez-Córcoles, M., Fialho, P., & Guimaraes, M. (2025). The effects of being under watch: The impact of electronic monitoring on remote workers’ psychological safety. Journal of Management & Organization, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2025.10039

Awumey, E., Das, S., & Forlizzi, J. (2024, June). A systematic review of biometric monitoring in the workplace: analyzing socio-technical harms in development, deployment and use. In Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (pp. 920-932). https://doi.org/10.1145/3630106.3658945

Ball , K 2021 , Electronic monitoring and surveillance in the workplace : literature review and policy recommendations . European Commission . https://doi.org/10.2760/451453

Battaglini, M., & Rasmussen, S. (2019). Transparency, automated decision-making processes and personal profiling. Journal of Data Protection & Privacy, 2(4), 331-349.

Bernstrøm, V. H., & Svare, H. (2017). Significance of Monitoring and Control for Employees’ Felt Trust, Motivation, and Mastery1. Nordic journal of working life studies Volume, 7(4), 29-49. https://doi.org/10.69554/STNB6990

Bunwaree, T. S., Stawarz, K., Collins, P., & Gould, S. J. (2025, April). Boss is aWare—Are you? Employee comprehension and legal awareness of workplace monitoring. In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-19). https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713651

Camboni, M., & Porcellacchia, M. (2025). Monitoring team members: Information waste and the transparency trap. American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 17(3), 324-368. https://doi.org/10.1257/mic.20240240

Costa, T. (2025). Toxic micromanagement in the workplace: Its impact on employee productivity, trust, and innovation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 46(5), 1234–1250. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2758

Danaher, J., & Sætra, H. S. (2022). Technology and moral change: the transformation of truth and trust. Ethics and Information Technology, 24(3), 35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-022-09661-y

de Bruijn, A. L. (2021). Organizational factors and workplace deviance: Influences of abusive supervision, dysfunctional employees, and toxic work environments. The Cambridge handbook of compliance, 639-661. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108759458.044

De Sutter, E., Meszaros, J., Borry, P., & Huys, I. (2022). Digitizing the informed consent process: a review of the regulatory landscape in the European Union. Frontiers in Medicine, 9, 906448. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.906448

Delgado, J., & García, R. (2024). The double-edged sword effect of electronic performance monitoring in the workplace. Highlights in Business Economics and Management, 23(1), 1317–1339. https://doi.org/10.54097/9q9x6285

Dickson, R. K., & Isaiah, O. (2024). Overcoming toxic work environment through effective leadership strategies. International Journal of Business Management and Economic Review, 7(1), 182-202. https://doi.org/10.35409/IJBMER.2024.3559

Ebert, I., Wildhaber, I., & Adams-Prassl, J. (2021). Big Data in the workplace: Privacy Due Diligence as a human rights-based approach to employee privacy protection. Big Data & Society, 8(1), 20539517211013051. https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517211013051

Ellis, D., Harper, D., & Tucker, I. (2013). The dynamics of impersonal trust and distrust in surveillance systems. Sociological research online, 18(3), 85-96. https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.3091

Gopichandran, V., & Krishna, A. K. I. (2013). Monitoring ‘monitoring’and evaluating ‘evaluation’: an ethical framework for monitoring and evaluation in public health. Journal of medical ethics, 39(1), 31-35. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2012-100680

Harefa, M. Y. N. P., Dompak, T., Salsabila, L., & Lodan, K. T. (2025). The Influence Of Work Motivation On Employee Performance: A Literature Study On The Factors Of Existence, Relationship, And Growth Needs In Improving Workforce Performance. Momentum Matrix: International Journal of Communication, Tourism, and Social Economic Trends, 2(1), 52-65. https://doi.org/10.62951/momat.v2i1.182

Harjanto, R., Suhariadi, F., Yulianti, P., Nugroho, M. A., & Damayanti, N. (2023). The importance of trust in cultivating employee loyalty and productivity in a remote work environment. International Journal of Professional Business Review, 8(6), 01–21. https://doi.org/10.26668/businessreview/2023.v8i6.2159

Holderness Jr, D. K., Olsen, K. J., Thornock, T. A., & Tomlinson, E. C. (2022). Will someone be checking my work? The effect of psychological entitlement and the expectation of being monitored on task performance and misreporting. Accounting Horizons, 36(4), 47-65. https://doi.org/10.2308/HORIZONS-2020-032

Holt, M., Lang, B., & Sutton, S. G. (2017). Potential employees' ethical perceptions of active monitoring: The dark side of data analytics. Journal of Information Systems, 31(2), 107-124. https://doi.org/10.2308/isys-51580

Ibeh, F., Oyekunle, D. O. T., & Boohene, D. (2024). Exploring effective methods to boost virtual workers' morale for improved project performance. International Journal of Professional Business Review, 9(3). 1-20. https://doi.org/10.26668/businessreview/2024.v9i3.4335

Igwe-Nmaju, C., & Anadozie, C. (2022). Commanding digital trust in high-stakes sectors: communication strategies for sustaining stakeholder confidence amid technological risk. World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 15(3), 609-630. https://doi.org/10.30574/wjarr.2022.15.3.0920

Ispiryan, A., Pakeltiene, R., Ispiryan, O., & Giedraitis, A. (2024). Fostering organizational sustainability through employee collaboration: An integrative approach to environmental, social, and economic dimensions. Encyclopedia, 4(4), 1806-1826. https://doi.org/10.3390/encyclopedia4040119

Jackson, E. M., Rossi, M. E., Rickamer Hoover, E., & Johnson, R. E. (2012). Relationships of leader reward behavior with employee behavior: Fairness and morale as key mediators. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 33(7), 646-661. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437731211265232

Jiang, H., & Wang, L. (2024). The impact of electronic monitoring on remote workers' psychological safety. Journal of Management & Organization, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2025.10039

Jøsang, A., Keser, C., & Dimitrakos, T. (2005, May). Can we manage trust?. In International Conference on Trust Management (pp. 93-107). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11429760_7

Kalischko, T., & Riedl, R. (2024). On the consequences of electronic performance monitoring in organizations: theory and evidence. Digital Transformation and Society, 3(1), 50-79. https://doi.org/10.1108/DTS-10-2022-0054

Khusainov, R., Azzi, D., Achumba, I. E., & Bersch, S. D. (2013). Real-time human ambulation, activity, and physiological monitoring: Taxonomy of issues, techniques, applications, challenges and limitations. Sensors, 13(10), 12852-12902. https://doi.org/10.3390/s131012852

Ko, Y. H., & Baek, I. G. (2025). The effect of computer monitoring on employees’ productivity in telecommuting arrangements. Management Science, 71(1), 103-122. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.00588

Kocheise, L., & Büttgen, M. (2022). “The more, the merrier?”–A Systematic Review of the Effects of Technology-Induced Employee Transparency on Frontline Service Employees. SMR-Journal of Service Management Research, 6(4), 232-244. doi.org/10.5771/2511-8676-2022-4-232

Latham, G. P. (2023). Motivate employee performance through goal setting. Principles of organizational behavior: the handbook of evidence‐based management 3rd Edition, 83-111. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394320769.ch5

Li, L. (2023). Research on the double-edged sword effect of electronic performance monitoring in the workplace. Highlights in Business Economics and Management, 23(1), 1317–1339. https://doi.org/10.54097/9q9x6285

Malhotra, A., Evans, N., Gao, J., Du, J. T., & Zheng, C. (2025). The issues caused by misinformation—How workers and organizations deal with it: A systematic literature review. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. 1-30 https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.25016

Matthews, G., Cumings, R., De Los Santos, E. P., Feng, I. Y., & Mouloua, S. A. (2025). A new era for stress research: supporting user performance and experience in the digital age. Ergonomics, 68(6), 913-946. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2024.2425953

Merrifield, D. B. (1994). Measurements of productivity: key to survival. International Journal of Technology Management, 9(5-7), 771-783. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJTM.1994.025601

Munn, L. (2024). Expansive and Invasive: Mapping the “Bossware” Used to Monitor Workers. Surveillance & Society, 22(2), 104-119. https://doi.org/10.24908/ss.v22i2.16179

Narne, S., Adedoja, T., Mohan, M., & Ayyalasomayajula, T. (2024). AI-driven decision support systems in management: enhancing strategic planning and execution. International journal on recent and innovation trends in computing and communication, 12(1), 268-276. https://ijritcc.org/index.php/ijritcc/article/view/10252

Obeng, A. F., Zhu, Y., Quansah, P. E., Ntarmah, A. H., & Cobbinah, E. (2021). High-performance work practices and turnover intention: Investigating the mediating role of employee morale and the moderating role of psychological capital. SAGE open, 11(1), 2158244020988557. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020988557

Oluwafemi, I. O., Clement, T., Adanigbo, O. S., Gbenle, T. P., & Adekunle, B. I. (2021). A review of ethical considerations in AI-driven marketing analytics: Privacy, transparency, and consumer trust. International Journal Of Multidisciplinary Research and Growth Evaluation, 2(2), 428-435. https://doi.org/10.54660/.IJMRGE.2021.2.2.428-435

Owen, K., Mundy, R., Guild, W., & Guild, R. (2001). Creating and sustaining the high performance organization. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 11(1), 10-21. https://doi.org/10.1108/09604520110362443

Ozlati, S. (2015). The moderating effect of trust on the relationship between autonomy and knowledge sharing: A national multi‐industry survey of knowledge workers. Knowledge and Process Management, 22(3), 191-205. https://doi.org/10.1002/kpm.1474

Panel, O. H. H. L. E., Hayman, D. T., Adisasmito, W. B., Almuhairi, S., Behravesh, C. B., Bilivogui, P., ... & Koopmans, M. (2023). Developing one health surveillance systems. One Health, 17, 100617. 1 https://doi.org/0.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100617

Patel, V., Chesmore, A., Legner, C. M., & Pandey, S. (2022). Trends in workplace wearable technologies and connected‐worker solutions for next‐generation occupational safety, health, and productivity. Advanced Intelligent Systems, 4(1), 2100099. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2205.11740

Pavanatto, L., North, C., Bowman, D. A., Badea, C., & Stoakley, R. (2021, March). Do we still need physical monitors? an evaluation of the usability of ar virtual monitors for productivity work. In 2021 IEEE virtual reality and 3D user interfaces (VR) (pp. 759-767). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/VR50410.2021.00103

Pereira, L., & Silva, J. (2024). Digital surveillance in the workplace: A study of monitoring practices across organizations in Punjab. Journal of Business Ethics, 154(4), 987–1002. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04542-0

Popescu, G. H., Zabojnik, S., Durana, P., Poliakova, A., & Tudosă, P. (2024). Real-Time Artificial Intelligence Workforce and Employee Big Data Analytics, Holographic Display and Interconnected Monitoring Devices, and Talent and Performance Management Tools for Algorithmic Organizational Decision-Making Processes. Psychosociological Issues in Human Resource Management, 12(1), 112-128. https://doi.org/10.22381/pihrm12120246

Puat, M. H. A. A. M., Ahmad, M. J. B., & Shariff, F. M. (2022). Workplace monitoring: The moderating roles of aesthetic labour attributes towards employees’ performance in a fast-food restaurant. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(11), 1092–1106. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v12-i11/15644

Roszkowska, P., & Melé, D. (2021). Organizational factors in the individual ethical behaviour. The notion of the “organizational moral structure”. Humanistic Management Journal, 6(2), 187-209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41463-020-00080-z

Sebastian, R. A., Ehinger, K., & Miller, T. (2025). Do we need watchful eyes on our workers? Ethics of using computer vision for workplace surveillance. AI and Ethics, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-025-00726-4

Seshasai, S. J., & Balaji, K. D. (2025). The hidden costs of low morale: how unfilled jobs and staff attrition can drain your business. In Innovative Recruitment and Retention for Employee Empowerment (pp. 267-284). IGI Global Scientific Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-6602-8.ch010

Shahid, A. (2018). Employee intention to stay: An environment based on trust and motivation. Journal of Management Research, 10(4), 58-71. https://doi.org/10.5296/jmr.v10i4.13680

Siegel, R., & König, C. J. (2022). The impact of electronic monitoring on employees’ job satisfaction, stress, performance, and counterproductive work behavior: A meta-analysis. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 8, 100227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2022.100227

Silva, P., Moreira, A. C., & Mota, J. (2023). Employees' perception of corporate social responsibility and performance: the mediating roles of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational trust. Journal of Strategy and Management, 16(1), 92-111. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSMA-10-2021-0213

Slemp, G. R., Lee, M. A., & Mossman, L. H. (2021). Interventions to support autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs in organizations: A systematic review with recommendations for research and practice. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 94(2), 427-457. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12338

Slil, E., Iyiola, K., Alzubi, A., & Aljuhmani, H. Y. (2025). Impact of safety leadership and employee morale on safety performance: The moderating role of harmonious safety passion. Buildings, 15(2), 186. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15020186

Suhariadi, F., & Nugroho, M. A. (2023). The importance of trust in cultivating employee loyalty and productivity in a remote work environment. International Journal of Professional Business Review, 8(6), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.26668/businessreview/2023.v8i6.2159

Tomczak, D. L., Lanzo, L. A., & Aguinis, H. (2018). Evidence-based recommendations for employee performance monitoring. Business Horizons, 61(2), 251-259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2017.11.006

Udeh, E. O., Amajuoyi, P., Adeusi, K. B., & Scott, A. O. (2024). The role of IoT in boosting supply chain transparency and efficiency. Magna Scientia Advanced Research and Reviews, 11(01), 178-197. https://doi.org/10.30574/msarr.2024.11.1.0081

Vuong, T. D. N., & Nguyen, L. T. (2022). The key strategies for measuring employee performance in companies: a systematic review. Sustainability, 14(21), 14017. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114017

Walter, E. (2024). Effects of Transparent Communication on Employee Trust in Management in Tunisia. American Journal of Public Relations, 3(2), 29-39. https://doi.org/10.47672/ajpr.2364

Wenzel, A. K., Krause, T. A., & Vogel, D. (2019). Making performance pay work: The impact of transparency, participation, and fairness on controlling perception and intrinsic motivation. Review of public personnel administration, 39(2), 232-255. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X17715502

Wenzel, R., & Van Quaquebeke, N. (2018). The double-edged sword of big data in organizational and management research: A review of opportunities and risks. Organizational Research Methods, 21(3), 548-591. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428117718627

West, M. A., & Bowman, C. (2016). Some problems with employee monitoring. Journal of Business Ethics, 45(3), 245–258. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023969517032

Wu, D., & Wang, Z. (2020). Be careful how you do it: the distinct effects of observational monitoring and interactional monitoring on employee trust. Sustainability, 12(15), 6092. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156092

Zheng, X., Nieberle, K. W., Braun, S., & Schyns, B. (2023). Is someone looking over my shoulder? An investigation into supervisor monitoring variability, Subordinates' daily felt trust, and well‐being. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 44(5), 818-837. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2699

Zhou, Y., Wang, L., & Chen, W. (2023). The dark side of AI-enabled HRM on employees based on AI algorithmic features. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 36(7), 1222-1241. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-10-2022-0308