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Employees who have access to the internet through personal computers, mobile phones or other digital devices may take advantage of the technology and use the internet for personal reasons and leisure rather than for work-related activities.^[3] Cyberloafing refers to the phenomenon in which employees use the internet for non-official activities during working hours while behaving as though they are doing job-related work.^[4]

Cyberloafing has become increasingly common among employees and is now the main way employees waste time at work.^[5] A study conducted by RescueTime in 2018 found that US office workers spend 21% of their working hours on entertainment or social media, which leads to an average of only 2 hours and 48 minutes of productive working hours per day.^[6] As there is a low risk of cyberloafing being detected by others, employees generally prefer it to other loafing activities such as making personal phone calls or chatting with colleagues.^[7]

Cyberloafing has attracted increasing academic and managerial attention in recent years. Studies on cyberloafing have mainly focused on why these behaviours occur in workplaces.^[8] While the individual and workplace-related antecedents of cyberloafing have been studied systematically and thoroughly, the consequences of cyberloafing require more attention and further research. The potential negative effects of cyberloafing, such as decreased productivity, may become an economic problem for organisations.^[9]

Henle et al. (2009) reported that cyberloafing causes US employees’ productivity to decrease by 30–40%, corresponding to US$750 million in lost revenue each year, according to the researchers’ estimation. Shafaat and Truptimayee^[10] particularly stressed the need to conduct more studies to fully understand cyberloafing’s impact on employees’ job performance. Because of the severe problems that cyberloafing can cause for individuals and organisations, it is worthwhile to investigate the link between cyberloafing and job performance. This research can provide insight into how cyberloafing during remote working impacts individuals’ job performance and provide concrete suggestions to help employers address cyberloafing issues.

Recent studies focusing on the consequences of cyberloafing have produced inconsistent results. Many studies considered cyberloafing an inefficient use of time and a deviant workplace activity that results in decreased employee productivity.^[11] However, some studies found that cyberloafing is positively related to the productivity benefits of the internet.^[12] Moreover, many empirical studies discovered an inverted U-shaped relationship between cyberloafing and job performance.^[13] Therefore, to clarify how cyberloafing influences employees’ job performance, this study explores the mechanism of the indirect effect of cyberloafing on job performance through empirical research.

Little research has been done on cyberloafing during remote working, especially in the post-pandemic context. Remote working has become prevalent in many organisations since the outbreak of Covid-19. Although much of the workforce returned to the office as pandemic-related restrictions eased, remote working has become the new normal in many organisations and is now even legislated in some countries. For example, in July 2022, the Dutch parliament passed legislation requiring employers to take into account workers’ requests to work from home if their fields of work permit it.^[14] This trend is relevant to this study because remote working provides favourable facilitating conditions for employees to carry out cyberloafing successfully. These conditions include more access to the internet, less structured time, and a lack of monitoring during working hours.^[15]

Therefore, this study focuses on employees’ experiences during remote working to contribute to the literature on cyberloafing. Based on previous research and theoretical evidence from organisational behaviour, this study seeks to clarify the indirect effect of cyberloafing on the job performance of remote workers. The findings can give employers a deeper understanding of individuals’ cyberloafing behaviour and its consequences in the remote working context. This can pave the way for employers to design appropriate policies related to employees’ internet behaviour in the post-pandemic era.

Conclusion

To summarise, this research examined the mechanism between cyberloafing and job performance. Based on previous literature and theoretical background, a research model was designed by introducing job-related anxiety as mediators, job resources and job demands as moderators. Four research objectives and seven research hypotheses were formulated. Using the quantitative research method, 158 responses were collected through an online survey. The analysis result using SPSS showed that five hypotheses were supported while two hypotheses were not supported. The key findings based on research objectives are summarised below.

The first research objective is to examine correlations between cyberloafing, job-related anxiety and job performance. Results showed that cyberloafing is significantly and positively related to job-related anxiety, while job-related anxiety is significantly and negatively related to job performance. These findings were consistent with previous studies and can be illustrated by COR theory and ERM.

The second research objective is to investigate the mediating role of job-related anxiety between cyberloafing and job performance. The finding confirmed that the mediation effect is significant. Employees with a higher level of cyberloafing during remote work will experience higher job-related anxiety, leading to a lower level of job performance. In other words, cyberloafing can have an indirect impact on job performance. These findings can be illustrated by the resource loss spiral stemming from the COR theory, which has been explained explicitly in the former chapter.

The third research objective is to explore the moderating role of job resources and job demands between cyberloafing, job-related anxiety, and job performance. The result suggested that job demands play a moderating role not only between cyberloafing and job-related anxiety but also in the mediation model. However, job resources do not play a significant moderating role in this model. Therefore, when the job demands level is high, the positive impact of cyberloafing on job-related anxiety will be more substantial. Part of these findings is consistent with the JDR model and COR theory. Meanwhile, the insignificant moderating effect of job resources stresses the vital role of the unique research context, remote working.

The fourth research objective is to provide critical insights and recommendations for HR professionals to deal with cyberloafing problems during remote working in the post-pandemic era. In the former chapter, the general practical implications were discussed concisely based on the findings of each research hypothesis. They inspire HR professionals and line managers to pay attention to and take measures to deal with the negative impact of cyberloafing during remote working.

References

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