Psychology Research and Behavior Management (Aug 2022)
Leader Phubbing and Employee Job Performance: The Effect of Need for Social Approval
Abstract
Tingting Xu,1 Tingxi Wang,2,3 Jinyun Duan1 1School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2International Business School Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China; 3Management School, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United KingdomCorrespondence: Jinyun Duan, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai, 200062, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: A workplace leader’s phubbing (snubbing by using the phone) can create social distance between the leader and employee. We tested whether this social distance might reduce trust, with a negative impact on job performance. The negative impact might be especially strong for employees with a high need for social approval (NFSA).Methods: Full-time employees (N = 246; 51.63% male, Mage = 35.07, SD = 8.62) in Eastern China completed anonymous questionnaires. The data were collected in three waves with a 2-week interval between each wave. The SPSS macro PROCESS was used to test all research hypotheses.Results: Regression-based analyses were used to test a moderated serial mediation model. Leader phubbing was associated with employees’ poorer job performance, and this association was mediated by social distance and in turn, low trust. The negative effects of leader phubbing were stronger for employees with a higher NFSA.Conclusion: This study adds new evidence to the literature on phubbing by showing that employees’ perceptions of leader phubbing might hinder employee job performance. Furthermore, the boundary condition of employee NFSA was emphasized and further expanded the literature in this field. This research provides insights into how the negative impact of leader phubbing on employee job performance can be prevented or reduced.Keywords: leader phubbing, social distance, trust, job performance, need for social approval
