EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTOMATED TIME TRACKING SOFTWARE ADOPTION AND SME PRODUCTIVITY: THE ROLES OF EMPLOYEE ACCEPTANCE AND PRIVACY CONCERNS

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between employee acceptance, privacy concerns, and SME productivity in the context of automated time tracking software. Although technology acceptance and workplace monitoring have been widely studied, limited empirical evidence exists on automated time tracking systems, particularly within SMEs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study provides a quantitative research based on an anonymous online questionnaire completed by 200 respondents. Employee acceptance, privacy concerns, and perceived productivity were measured using five-point Likert-scale statements, while current adoption, operational transparency, and SME readiness were included as additional explanatory variables. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, simple linear regression, and multiple linear regression in IBM SPSS Statistics. The results showed that employee acceptance has a positive and statistically significant effect on SME productivity (β = .426, p < .001), while privacy concerns have a significant negative effect on employee acceptance (β = –.267, p < .001). The findings suggest that productivity gains from automated time tracking software depend primarily on employee acceptance, highlighting the importance of addressing privacy concerns to support successful technology implementation.