Leader Phubbing and Employee Job Performance: The Effect of Need for Social Approval

Abstract

Purpose

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, M_age = 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

Ethics Statement

The research followed the guidelines outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. The ethics committee approved all procedures at East China Normal University (No. HR1-1015-2020). The author declares that he has obtained the informed consent from all participants and assured participants were voluntary in the study.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.