Unraveling the psychological and behavioral consequences of using enterprise social media (ESM) in mitigating the cyberslacking

Abstract

Our study addresses the understudied impact of enterprise social media (ESM) on employee productivity and performance. We explore the relationship between ESM use, interruption overload, psychological transitions, cyberslacking behavior, and work performance. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, we hypothesize that frequent ESM use leads to interruption overload and subsequent psychological transitions, resulting in increased cyberslacking behavior and decreased work performance. We investigate the moderating role of ready-to-resume as a contextual intervention. Using multi-wave data (N = 349) and structural equation modeling, we test our hypotheses. Surprisingly, we find no significant association between psychological transitions and cyberslacking, warranting further exploration. However, we do observe a positive link between cyberslacking behavior and employee performance, highlighting its importance for organizations. We uncover a significant moderating effect of ready-to-resume, indicating that a clear pathway to resume interrupted tasks weakens the relationship between ESM use and interruption overload. Our study offers valuable insights into the complex dynamics of ESM use, interruption overload, psychological transitions, cyberslacking behavior, and work performance. The paradoxical results open avenues for further investigation. For managers, our findings emphasize the need for a supportive work environment and strategies to facilitate prompt task resumption to manage cyberslacking effectively.