Does meaningful work reduce cyberloafing? Important roles of affective commitment and leader-member exchange

In this study, we examined the direct and indirect relationship (via affective commitment) between meaningful work and cyberloafing. We also tested the moderating role of leader-member exchange (LMX) in the direct relationship between meaningful work and cyberloafing. Time-lagged survey data (three waves, two months apart) were collected from a sample of 232 university alumni who were working full time in 88 firms operating in a wide range of manufacturing and service industries in Pakistan. Data were analysed using PROCESS macro for SPSS, and step-wise regression. The results revealed that meaningful work is negatively related to cyberloafing, both directly and indirectly (via affective organisational commitment). Importantly, we found that LMX moderates the negative relationship between meaningful work and cyberloafing, such that the relationship becomes stronger when LMX is high. We suggest that managers can reduce employees’ involvement in cyberloafing activities by enhancing employees’ experience of meaningful work and developing high-quality relationships with them.