Determinants of Cyberloafing in the Higher Education Institutions of Pakistan: Moderating Role of Internet Addiction

Abstract

Cyberloafing, or employee non-work-related online activity while at work, has become a common issue for many businesses. The current study has investigated the determinants (personality traits, boredom, emotional exhaustion, and creativity at work) of cyberloafing in the higher education institutions of Pakistan with moderation effect of online addiction. The population of the study was faculty members of Government universities of Southern Punjab province of Pakistan. Quantitative explanatory research design was used to conduct the study. Convenience sampling was used to select the sample from the targeted population. Sample size was 384. Data was collected through survey method using adapted questionnaire. Results have shown that there is insignificant relationship between personality traits and cyberloafing. While significant positive relationship was found between Boredom, emotional exhaustion, creativity at work and cyberloafing. Internet addiction was used as moderator of this study. The moderation effect was found significant positive for boredom and cyberloafing. But there was no moderation effect found between personality traits, emotional exhaustion, creativity at work and cyberloafing. The reason for these inconsistencies can be explored through some qualitative research in future. The current study has established a detailed road map for coping the effects of cyberloafing in organizational setting.