Impact of Smartphone Addiction on Academic Performance of Undergraduates in Sri Lanka; Mediating Effect of Technology Driven Multitasking

Abstract

The development of technology has a profound impact on the academic lives of students. Smartphone usage has become popular among the young generation because of its educational and entertaining options by using numerous applications. Among young people, students are increasingly using Smartphone. However excessive Smartphone usage usually makes the students get addicted to it and that impacts on user’s academic performance. This survey study was designed to examine university undergraduates’ level of Smartphone Addiction (SA) and to investigate the impact of SA on their Academic Performance (AP) with the mediating effect of Technology-Driven Multitasking behaviour (TDMT). There is not much evidence in Sri Lanka to accept the actual impact of SA and TDMT on AP undergraduates. Especially, generation Z digital natives and their multitasking behaviour with the emergence of superficial technologies should be comprehensively discussed to answer the problem of, does SA and TDMT impact AP? The data were gathered from 315 students at four universities. The scope is limited to management undergraduates in Sri Lanka. SA is defined as the independent variable (IV) of the study. Undergraduates AP is identified as the dependent variable (DV) of the study. TDMT is considered a mediator variable. Descriptive and inferential analysis was used while regression analysis was used to test hypotheses. Further, the Sobel test is used to test the mediate effect in the relationship between IV and DV. The findings of this study indicated that university students were highly addicted to the use of smartphones. Data analysis showed that SA negatively impacts AP while TDMT also negatively impact DV. Further, TDMT mediates the relationship between IV and DV. This study suggests that the students should reduce the intense use of Smartphone in order to perform well in their academic activities.