Workplace Phubbing in Nursing Teams: Occupational Mental Health–Relevant Psychosocial Stress, Resilience, and Job Performance

Workplace phubbing (being ignored during an interaction because a colleague is attending to a mobile phone) is increasingly common in clinical settings and may function as a subtle interpersonal stressor relevant to nursing teamwork, occupational well-being, and cooperative functioning. This cross-sectional survey examined associations between perceived workplace phubbing and self-reported job performance (overall, in-role, and extra-role). It tested whether resilience and perceived phubbing norms were related to performance. Nurses and nurse assistants from six public hospitals in Northern Greece provided eligible questionnaires (N = 338). In the primary overall-score models, being phubbed was positively associated with total and in-role performance but not with extra-role performance. In secondary dimension-level models, perceived phubbing norms were positively associated with all three performance outcomes, whereas feeling ignored and interpersonal conflict were not independent predictors. Resilience was positively associated with total, in-role, and extra-role performance. The GSBP total × resilience interaction was statistically significant only for in-role performance; however, simple-slope interpretation indicated attenuation of a positive association at higher resilience rather than buffering of an adverse association. Overall, resilience appeared to function as an independent correlate of perceived work performance rather than as evidence of the hypothesized buffering of a negative phubbing–performance association. These findings suggest that workplace phubbing should be understood as a context-dependent interpersonal phenomenon rather than a uniform performance risk. Clarifying digital-attention norms and protecting inclusive communication during key clinical interactions may support teamwork, psychosocial climate, and occupational well-being among nurses.