Excessive SNS use at work, technological conflicts and employee performance: A social-cognitive-behavioral perspective

Abstract

Abstract Pervasive Social Networking Site (SNS) access has deeply penetrated workers daily life, inducing excessive usage that can lead to negative consequences. Despite the danger, few studies have examined the dark side of social media from the performance perspective of workers. This paper explores how excessive use of SNSs impacts work performance, considering the underlying mechanisms by using the cognitive-behavioral model and social-cognitive theory (SCT) as the foundations of the model. We propose that excessive usage of SNSs positively influences the cognitive emotional preoccupation and thereby leads to three types of conflicts: task conflict, process conflict, and relationship conflict (TPR conflicts). TPR conflicts, in turn, diminish the work performance. A sample of 386 Chinese SNS user responses were empirically tested to validate the proposed model, and our hypotheses were confirmed except for one: the results reveal that relationship conflict has no significant correlation to work performance. This study contributes to mitigating the destructive nature of social media by identifying its drivers and consequences, considering a comprehensive classification of SNS-related conflicts in the working environment. It also provides theoretical and important practical insights that help organizations to improve their workers’ performance.