What is it about?
This study looks at why employees use the Internet for personal reasons during working hours. Instead of seeing cyberslacking as simple misbehaviour, it shows that it often develops through a chain of digital stress. When work technologies blur the boundary between work and home, employees become mentally exhausted. To cope with this exhaustion, they turn to the Internet more frequently, which can gradually lead to cyberslacking. The study is based on survey data from 493 employees and uses statistical modelling to show that cyberslacking emerges indirectly, not directly, from digital work pressure.
Featured Image
Photo by SEO Galaxy on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Many organisations try to reduce cyberslacking by monitoring or restricting Internet use. This study shows why such approaches often fail. Cyberslacking is linked to digital exhaustion and poor work–life boundaries, not just a lack of discipline. If organisations want to reduce cyberslacking, they need to focus on how technology is used at work, how often employees are expected to be available, and whether they have time to recover from digital overload.
Perspectives
This research suggests that cyberslacking is better understood as a coping behaviour rather than a productivity problem. Digital technologies both create pressure and offer short-term relief, which shapes how employees behave at work. Seeing cyberslacking through this lens helps organisations move away from blame and towards healthier, more human-centred ways of managing digital work.
utku güğerçin
adana alparslan turkes science and technology university
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: IT-Induced Antecedents of Cyberslacking: A Sequential Analysis Within the Stressor-Strain-Outcome Model and Coping Framework, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, December 2025, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/10447318.2025.2605177.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
