Abstract:

This paper examines relationships between job characteristics, work stress, and cyberloafing among Polish information technology professionals (N = 426). The study results show that information technology (IT) workers perceived their job demands and resources as relatively moderate, and stress level as relatively low. Our main findings demonstrate that job demands and resources relate to cyberloafing directly and via stress-related symptoms. Job demands (i.e., work pace, quantitative and cognitive demands) and job resources (i.e., influence, justice, and mutual employees trust) were directly related with cyberloafing. Meaning at work, possibilities for development as job resources as well as quantitative and cognitive demands were related to cyberloafing through stress-related symptoms. Our study contributes to the growing body of research in relation to the potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between specific job characteristics and cyberloafing among IT professionals. The current results suggest that in order to prevent cybertechnology-related time wasting, human resources managers should try to address the job characteristics that contribute to increase in stress symptoms and cyberloafing.