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Purpose With the integration of digital technologies into the modern workforce, cyberloafing has become a widespread issue for enterprises, potentially leading to various negative outcomes. Empowering leadership can enhance employees' intrinsic motivation and may serve as an effective strategy to address cyberloafing. However, previous research has largely adopted a leader-centered perspective, overlooking how employees interpret and make sense of empowering leadership. Drawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this research reveals when empowering leadership exerts positive (or negative) effects on cyberloafing. Design/methodology/approach This study consisted of two experiments and a comprehensive questionnaire survey. Data were collected and analyzed from full-time employees (Study 1: N = 180; Study 2: Nsub-study1 = 130, Nsub-study2 = 130; Study 3: N = 307). Findings The results showed that the impact of empowering leadership on employees is contingent on the leader's credibility. In instances of high leadership credibility, employees tend to interpret empowerment as a resource investment, perceiving trust from the leader, which reduces cyberloafing. Conversely, in situations of low leadership credibility, employees are more likely to view empowerment as a threat to resources, feeling exploited by the leader and engage in increased cyberloafing. Originality/value This study provides a fresh perspective on the relationship between empowering leadership and cyberloafing, offering practical insights for organizations and leaders to manage this issue effectively.
Sun et al. (Tue,) studied this question.