Always on my mind-a within-person study on workplace fear of missing out and ICT use during leisure time on informational benefits and employee well-being
Linda-Elisabeth Reimann, Carmen Binnewies, Sonja Utz, Sophie Loose, Micha HilbertPurpose
Nowadays, employees can have almost constant access to work-related information and communication technologies (ICTs), even during leisure time. While these technologies offer numerous advantages, they introduce difficulties regarding employee recovery and well-being. Moreover, we focus on workplace fear of missing out (wFoMO) as an emerging challenge. Particularly, we consider wFoMO as an antecedent for ICT use during leisure time, which, in turn, we propose to be positively associated with informational benefits but negatively with employee well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
We conducted a five-day diary study and gathered data from 140 employees with a total of 583 daily measurements.
Findings
On days when people experienced more wFoMO, they were more likely to use ICTs, which was positively associated with perceived informational benefits and negatively with employee recovery.
Originality/value
These findings emphasize the significance of wFoMO as an antecedent of ICT use during leisure time. Our work contributes to prior research by providing evidence about wFoMO on a daily level and the double-edged sword of ICT use.