Investigating the influence of emotions on Shadow IT usage behaviours

Yves Barlette (), Jean-François Berthevas (), Jean-Loup Richet () and Laura Georg Schaffner ()
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Yves Barlette: MBS School of Business
Jean-François Berthevas: ULR - La Rochelle Université, EOLE - Environnement Organisation LEgislation (ex LITHORAL, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Territoire Histoire Organisation RégulAtion Loi) - ULR - La Rochelle Université
Jean-Loup Richet: GREGOR - Groupe de Recherche en Gestion des Organisations - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - IAE Paris - Sorbonne Business School, LAB IAE Paris - Sorbonne - IAE Paris - Sorbonne Business School
Laura Georg Schaffner: EM Strasbourg - École de Management de Strasbourg = EM Strasbourg Business School - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg

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Abstract: Shadow IT (SIT) usage can be characterized as follows: (1) employees' voluntary adoption of unapproved IT tools for the purpose of working more efficiently, and (2) employees' infringement on corporate security policies even when they act without malicious intent. We used the coping model of user adaptation to conduct a survey of 480 SIT users to investigate the ways in which employees cope with SIT usage. Our findings indicate that in the context of SIT usage, employees feel satisfied regardless of their level of control over their SIT usage and that a greater level of perceived control allows employees to maximise their performance at work, increasing satisfaction. We also show that perceived threat fosters the implementation of security measures via problem-focused coping (PFC) behaviours and mitigates emotion-focused coping (EFC) behaviours. As SIT usage can be perceived both as beneficial and threatening, we contribute to behavioural information systems (IS) research by showing that even when employees covertly use unapproved IT resources and infringe on corporate IT policies, they nevertheless engage in risk mitigation to preserve the increased efficiency they gain from using SIT.

Keywords: Behaviour; Security; Emotion-focused; Problem-focused; Coping; Shadow IT; Orienté-problème; Orienté-émotion; Sécurité; Comportement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-03-10
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Published in Systèmes d'Information et Management, 2026, 30 (2), pp.99-149. ⟨10.54695/sim.252.0099⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05512105

DOI: 10.54695/sim.252.0099

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