Apply with caution! The contingent effect of blockchain-enabled governance on trust

Workplace surveillance is a classic management activity in public and private organizations. Employers have long used various surveillance methods in different forms to ensure workplace safety and product/service quality, enhance process efficiency, reduce transactional cost, training and safeguarding organizational interests. Technology advances have generally facilitated surveillance and created new opportunities for electronic monitoring in government. But it has also intensified the surveillance context of the work environment, which can have negative impacts on employee satisfaction, motivation, and job performance. This chapter examines advances in digital surveillance as well as the research on the ethics and implications of digital workplace surveillance for employees’ privacy, motivation, and performance. Special attention is given to how innovative surveillance techniques that are changing the workplace environment. Based on this review, the chapter suggests future research.