ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF CYBERLOAFING AMONG FACULTY IN PAKISTANI UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

The present study investigates the role of workplace ostracism and moral disengagement in predicting cyberloafing, and finally, psychological detachment and cognitive engagement of faculty members in higher education institutions in Pakistan. The study is based on social cognitive theory and theorizes workplace ostracism as an environmental condition, moral disengagement as a self-regulatory cognitive process and cyberloafing as a behavioral response. The study was conducted in Punjab in Pakistan and questionnaires were used to collect the data from faculty members of universities. A total of 783 questionnaires were received but only 737 were complete and used for analysis. Convenience sampling was used and proposed measurement and structural models were tested by partial least squares structural equation modeling. All 12 hypotheses were supported by the findings. Cyberloafing was related to both ostracism and moral disengagement in the workplace and to both psychological detachment and a decrease in cognitive engagement. Both antecedents also negatively predicted psychological detachment and cognitive engagement directly. All four of the relationships between the antecedents and the outcomes were significantly mediated by cyberloafing. These findings reveal the dual role of cyberloafing: it can offer temporary cognitive relief while simultaneously weakening task-focused engagement. The study extends the cyberloafing study to the context of Pakistani university and provides practical guidance to foster inclusion, ethical self-regulation, healthy recovery and sustainable faculty engagement.