Is monitoring employee’s online behavior by companies ethical?

Abstract

In this paper, I will argue that for specific combinations of motives behind monitoring with specific types of monitoring, it is not unethical that companies monitor employees’ online behavior. I will first review the international literature in order to find a plausible conceptualization of Privacy and a structured theory of Workplace and Business Ethics. Based on these findings, I will be constructing a test of ethicality. Against these issues, I will be testing different motives and types of online behavior monitoring, again found in the International Literature, in order to find out which ones manage to pass the test and are considered ethical. Lastly, I will propose the findings in the form of a proposition describing which combination of motive and type of monitoring fulfils the requirements of the ethicality of the test, arguing at last that there exist certain cases which monitoring employee’s online behavior is ethical.