Beyond GDPR Compliance: CCTV Perceptions and Self-Censorship. Implications for Workplace Governance

Video surveillance is widely used in organizations for security, safety, and process control, yet its behavioral consequences may extend beyond direct observation, shaping conduct through perceived monitoring and internalized constraint. Existing scholarship on workplace monitoring and chilling effects suggests that surveillance can suppress expression and autonomy through anticipatory compliance; however, empirical studies rarely specify the psychological process through which surveillance perceptions are associated with perceived behavioral change, and even fewer examine how legal knowledge conditions these dynamics under GDPR-style compliance frameworks. This study addresses these gaps by testing a moderated serial mediation model using data from a structured questionnaire administered to university students (N = 358). The analysis examines whether the perception that CCTV recordings are actively analyzed (X) is indirectly associated with perceived behavioral change (Y) through behavioral self-monitoring (M1) and self-censorship/withholding (M2), and whether knowledge of the legal framework governing video surveillance (W) moderates these pathways. Ordered logistic regression models and bootstrapped conditional indirect effects indicate a clear conditional pattern of associations: the serial indirect effect is non-significant at the lowest level of legal knowledge but becomes statistically significant from moderate levels onward and increases monotonically as legal knowledge rises. Moderation is concentrated in earlier links (X→M1 and M1→M2), suggesting that legal awareness may be associated with heightened vigilance and behavioral inhibition, rather than simply reassuring individuals. The paper contributes a process-oriented empirical account of surveillance-related behavioral externalities and demonstrates that formal compliance and informed awareness do not necessarily eliminate chilling effects, with implications for surveillance governance and HR risk management in video-monitored environments.