Cyberslacking continuance intentions of the adult online learners from the business schools: An espoused cultural value perspective

Abstract

Cyberslacking behaviors among business students have invited researchers’ attention as academia has recently moved to online classroom activity as the new normal. This research is the first-ever study to investigate the antecedents of cyberslacking continuance intentions based on the time-series data collected on two occasions from (N = 365) the business students enrolled in online virtual classrooms during the pandemic. The research employs the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling technique to analyze the TPB-enhanced model using different constructs of apathy, lack of attention, consumerism, perceived threat, and the habit of using internet under the moderating influence of espoused cultural values. Results show that cyberslacking attitudes and subjective norms strongly predict cyberslacking continuance intentions. The cyberslacking behaviors for the virtual learners also differ from the physical classroom students as the impact of perceived threat and class engagement is insignificant while escapism is observed to be a strong predictor of cyberslacking intent among the virtual learners. The cultural values of power distance and individualism/collectivism strongly moderate the relationship between cyberslacking attitude and cyberslacking intentions while masculinity/femininity strongly moderates the relationship between subjective norms and cyberslacking intentions; leading to several useful implications for the researchers and practitioners.