Cyberloafing Behaviour and Job Performance: A Meta-analytic Review

Cyberloafing is defined as employees’ engagement in non-work-related online activities during working hours and has become increasingly prevalent in modern workplaces. However, its relationship with job performance remains unclear due to inconsistent findings in the existing literature. Therefore, this study was designed to understand the relationship between cyberloafing and job performance, which remains ambiguous due to the double nature of cyberloafing and its mixed consequences for employees’ outcomes. A meta-analysis was conducted using JAMOVI in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A systematic search of SCOPUS, Web of Science and ProQuest identified 29 empirical studies ( N = 6,211) published up to May 2025. Meta-analysis yielded a positive pooled estimate ( r = 0.29), indicating a small-to-moderate positive association between cyberloafing and job performance. However, the relationship was not statistically significant ( p = .133), and the 95% confidence interval included zero, indicating that the overall effect should be interpreted with caution. Such findings suggest that the association between cyberloafing and job performance is not uniform across studies and that cyberloafing may serve as a resource-recovery practice or a workplace distraction depending on the organizational environment and employee situation.