Is using social media for personal business a counterproductive work behavior? Maybe, but it’s also a break. Interesting little study here and a good use of ecological momentary assessment.
While more extensive non-work social media use at work was generally associated with lower work engagement, our advanced study design revealed that the longer employees used social media for non-work purposes during 1 working hour, the more work engaged they were in the subsequent working hour, suggesting that employees turn to social media when energy levels are low and/or when they (temporarily) lose interest in their work. This behaviour may serve as a break, which in turn increases work engagement later during the day.
I wonder if the higher levels of work engagement offset the time spent in non-productive activity? You can find the article here.
