Factors Influencing Future Employees' Decision-Making to Participate in a BYOD Program: Does Risk Matter?

As people use mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) more and more in daily life, their desire grows to use the same devices at work. In response to this demand, many firms are considering to offer BYOD programs allowing their employees to bring their own devices to work and use them for business purposes. This study analyses how employees’ perceive the benefits and risk associated with BYOD. Additionally, it is investigated whether innovativeness traits can serve as predictors of BYOD program participation. For this account, a theoretical model building on net valence approaches from decision making and perceived risk theory is proposed and tested. German students with relevant work experience and close to finishing their studies (i.e. future employees) were surveyed (n = 71). The study demonstrates that benefits matter more than risks, at least for the suspected drivers of IT consumerization. The results show that the intention to enrol in a BYOD program is a function of perceived risk, perceived benefits and level of personal innovativeness. Among these factors, perceived benefit most strongly affects behavioural intention, whereas only safety risks proved to inhibit an individual’s intention to use privately-owned devices at work. Knowledge acquired from this study is particularly beneficial to IT executives to guide their decision to set up or adjust BYOD initiatives.