Abstract

As mobile information technologies and smartphones became an integral part of our lives, it is important to understand their negative effects and how they can be controlled. Given the substantial demands multitasking exerts on the cognitive and attentional capacity of individuals, mobile IT multitasking (e.g., performing an IT task with a small device concurrently with a motor task) entails major safety risks as individuals miss important cues and become unaware of their environments. The objective of this research in progress paper is to answer: a) what are the countermeasures that are designed to curb the safety risks associated with mobile IT multitasking? and b) why do organizations choose to adopt a specific portfolio of these countermeasures? Through the lens of deterrence theory in IS we conceptualize the mobile IT multitasking countermeasures, and using an exploratory qualitative approach, we attempt to theorize the factors impacting the adoption of these countermeasures.

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