Workplace loneliness, ego depletion and cyberloafing: can leader problem-focused interpersonal emotion management help?

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to explore whether and how workplace loneliness leads to cyberloafing and the role of leader problem-focused interpersonal emotion management in buffering this relationship.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on ego depletion theory, the authors propose that employees' workplace loneliness leads to cyberloafing via ego depletion, while leader interpersonal emotion management (i.e. leadership behavior targeted at managing employees' negative emotions) can help to alleviate the situation. To test this study’s predictions, the authors collected multisource data at three time points from a sample of 219 employee–colleague dyads.FindingsThe results show that workplace loneliness is positively related to cyberloafing and that ego depletion mediates this relationship. Leader problem-focused interpersonal emotion management weakens the relationship between workplace loneliness and ego depletion and the indirect relationship between workplace loneliness and cyberloafing via ego depletion such that the above relationships are weak (versus strong) when leader problem-focused interpersonal emotion management is high (versus low).Originality/valueThe study results suggest that workplace loneliness is an important hidden danger that leads to cyberloafing because lonely employees suffer more from ego depletion. Leaders' interpersonal emotion management strategy serves as a potential buffer for such a negative effect.

Team abusive supervision and team behavioral resistance to change: The roles of distrust in the supervisor and perceived frequency of change

“…phenomenon (Endrejat et al, 2021;Malhotra et al, 2021;Zhao et al, 2018), which is insufficient to explain the barriers to organizational change (Hou et al, 2022;Yang et al, 2022). This study challenges this typical view by arguing that behavioral resistance to change also operates powerfully at the team level.…”

“…Previous studies have usually used behavioral resistance to change as an explanation for why change efforts fail. However, they share a typical view of behavioral resistance to change as an individual‐level phenomenon (Endrejat et al, 2021; Malhotra et al, 2021; Zhao et al, 2018), which is insufficient to explain the barriers to organizational change (Hou et al, 2022; Yang et al, 2022). This study challenges this typical view by arguing that behavioral resistance to change also operates powerfully at the team level.…”

“…These findings, although valuable, share a basic premise that behavioral resistance merely occurs at the individual level, overlooking an important notion that constructs long thought to solely be at the individual level could, in fact, operate powerfully at the team level (Morgeson & Hofmann, 1999). Moreover, investigations on individual behavioral resistance are not sufficient to reveal the barriers to organizational change given that (a) individual resistance alone has limited inhibition on the progress of organizational change and (b) barriers to organizational change usually originate in aggregated resistance to change (Yang et al, 2022).…”

More haste, less speed: leader bottom-line mentality and employee counter-productive social cyberloafing

“…A wealth of previous research has underscored diverse factors that spur social cyberloafing, including organizational commitment, workplace loneliness, and personal needs (Koay, 2018; Lim et al. , 2020; Yang et al. , 2023).…”

“…A wealth of previous research has underscored diverse factors that spur social cyberloafing, including organizational commitment, workplace loneliness, and personal needs (Koay, 2018;Lim et al, 2020;Yang et al, 2023). However, the extent to which leader BLM influences social cyberloafing remains an unresolved question.…”