Witnessing Cyberloafing: A Daily Diary Study of Observers’ Reactions to Cyberloafers

Journal of Business Ethics · 2025 · Volume 201 · Issue 2

Abstract

Research on cyberloafing has primarily focused on its consequences on cyberloafers themselves. We shift this focus away from the cyberloafers, focusing instead on the dual reactions that cyberloafing generates for observers. Drawing on relative deprivation theory, we hypothesize that witnessing colleagues’ daily cyberloafing induces daily relative deprivation among observers, which in turn reduces their daily work effort and increases their daily badmouthing. Additionally, colleagues’ relative performance attenuates the positive relationship between observed daily cyberloafing and daily relative deprivation, such that observers experience less daily relative deprivation when their colleagues are relatively high performers. To test this, we conducted a daily survey of 128 employees over 10 workdays. The empirical results supported our theoretical model. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

Keywords

Cyberloafing, Relative deprivation, Work effort, Badmouthing, Relative performance

Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.