Cyberloafing behaviours in nursing: The role of nursing stressors

AIM

To assess the prevalence of minor and serious cyberloafing behaviours among nurses and examine the impact of the nursing stressors on nurses' cyberloafing behaviours.

BACKGROUND

Cyberloafing could have a negative influence on employees' job performance, but it also has been argued that it could serve as a coping mechanism to deal with stressful work environments.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional descriptive, correlational design.

METHODS

Data were collected between September and December 2020 from a convenience sample of staff nurses (N = 291) providing care at a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia. Sample characteristics, nursing stressors and cyberloafing behaviours information were collected using self-reported questionnaires. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed.

FINDINGS

Nurses in Saudi Arabia exhibited low levels of minor and serious cyberloafing behaviours. However, they engaged more frequently in minor cyberloafing behaviours more than serious cyberloafing behaviours. Stressors and Internet usage frequency influenced the frequency of minor and serious cyberloafing behaviours. Level of education and nationality impacted serious cyberloafing behaviours only.

CONCLUSION

Nursing stressors were associated with cyberloafing behaviours. Other studies on cyberloafing and job stress yielded inconsistent results. Efforts should be taken to avoid the adverse effects of cyberloafing by establishing a clear policy on using the advanced technology for non-work purposes.

Disentangling How Coworkers and Supervisors Influence Employee Cyberloafing: What Normative Information Are Employees Attending To?

Cyberloafing—the use of an electronic device at work for an activity that an immediate supervisor would not consider work-related—is now the most common way that employees waste time at work. It is well established that social norms play a role in cyberloafing, but it is unknown what specific normative information employees attend to when deciding whether or not to cyberloaf. In Study 1, we tested which of four types of normative information could underlie the observed correlation between social norms and cyberloafing. We found that both perceptions of supervisor cyberloafing and perceptions of coworker cyberloafing accounted for unique variance in cyberloafing, and also discovered some evidence that the approval of these referents also had the same effect. In Study 2, we cross-validated these results from Study 1 using a sample that was reasonably representative of the general working population—supporting the generalizability of our findings from Study 1. Furthermore, we conducted supplemental analyses (relative weights analysis and polynomial regression) to untangle nuances in how normative data relates to cyberloafing. In Study 1, we also examined the role of actual norms—as opposed to perceived norms—and found evidence that actual supervisor cyberloafing does influence cyberloafing through employee perceptions of supervisor cyberloafing. Overall, this investigation serves to clarify how social influence plays a role in the cyberloafing phenomenon.

A meta-analytic investigation of cyberloafing

Purpose

Cyberloafing, using technology to idle instead of work, is a particularly concerning issue for many organizations due to its perceived widespread impact on productivity. The purpose of this paper is to meta-analytically examine the growing literature on this construct in order to gain insights into its nomological network and guide future research.

Design/methodology/approach

After a systematic literature search, the authors conducted psychometric meta-analyses to estimate the relationships of 39 different correlates with cyberloafing. The meta-analytic database was comprised of 54 independent samples contributing 609 effect sizes.

Findings

Results indicate that boredom, engagement, and self-control exhibit strong relationships with cyberloafing, but employees’ attitudes surrounding and opportunities to engage in cyberloafing also proved powerful predictors. Contrary to common stereotypes, age and other demographic variables exhibited negligible effects. Employment variables (e.g. tenure, organization level, and income) were also negligibly related to cyberloafing. Emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness exhibited modest negative relationships with cyberloafing, whereas self-control demonstrated a strong negative relationship. Although cyberloafing strongly correlated with overall counterproductive work behaviors, the findings suggest it is unrelated to other components of job performance.

Research limitations/implications

Because the cyberloafing literature is in its early stages, the present study drew on a limited number of samples for several of the relationships analyzed. Rather than providing conclusive evidence of the nomological network of cyberloafing, these analyses reinforce the need for empirical investigation into several important relationships.

Originality/value

As the first quantitative review of the emerging cyberloafing literature, this study synthesizes related studies from disparate disciplines, examines the nomological network of cyberloafing, and highlights future directions for research into this phenomenon.