Smartphone interruption salience and study effectiveness among Chinese university students: The indirect role of attentional residue and the moderating role of self-control

Interruption of instruction by a smartphone has become a frequent occurrence in higher education and the cognitive conditions involved in reduced academic functioning are less well understood. The current study investigated the possibility for a mediation effect between smartphone IS and study effectiveness through attentional residue and a moderation effect between smartphone IS and attentional residue by means of self-control. The survey was conducted at a cross-sectional level among university students in four major cities of Nanjing, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Xi'an, China. The collected data were analyzed by partial least squares structural equation modeling in SmartPLS 4 with 426 valid respondents. The amount of interruption salience due to the smartphone was negatively related to study effectiveness and positively related to attentional residue, while attentional residue was negatively related to study effectiveness. There was a large negative indirect relationship between smartphone interruption salience and study effectiveness via attentional residue. Self-control significantly weakened the positive association between smartphone interruption salience and attentional residue, and the significant index of moderated mediation indicated that the negative indirect association between smartphone interruption salience and study effectiveness through attentional residue became weaker at higher levels of self-control. As all variables were assessed concurrently using self-reports, these results reflect conditional, statistical associations, and do not imply a temporal sequence or causality. However, these findings suggest that the salience of smartphone cues in the student's mind and the lingering thoughts that followed the interruption could be highly relevant factors for students' perceived tasks in school.