Social Media and “FOMO-Work”: The Perceived Prevalence of Better Work Experiences

Abstract

Social media is commonly used by both organizations and individuals; yet, there is limited understanding of the psychological consequences of social media usage on employee attitudes and behaviors. In this paper, we examine the impact of social media intensity and its strong correlate, “fear of missing out” (FOMO), on employee work attitudes. We draw on Social Comparison Theory to understand how the unprecedented access to information about alternative work experiences on social media impacts job satisfaction and turnover intentions. We conceptualize a new construct, FOMO-work, as an individual’s intense concern for better work experiences. We examine the construct validity of FOMO-work including the predictive validity with various employee work attitudes. Then, we theorize a positive relationship between social media intensity and turnover intentions through FOMO¬-work and job satisfaction. A serial mediation model is tested with a sample of 138 employees at a Canadian consulting firm. The findings suggest that FOMO-work serves as a link between social media intensity and employee work attitudes. Our study contributes to better understanding the spillover effects of social media in the work context and the emerging research on social media in the workplace.