The downside of phones at work: exploring negative relationships between leader phubbing and follower engagement/performance

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this paper is gaining a deeper understanding of potential negative effects of (smart)phone use at work. The authors do so by exploring mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions between leader phubbing, leaders snubbing their followers by glancing at their phones during an interaction; and follower (1) work engagement and (2) performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a survey-based time-lagged, multi-source and team-based study of leaders (N = 93) and their followers (N = 454).FindingsResults of this paper showed that leader phubbing negatively relates to follower (1) work engagement and (2) performance through less perceived leader support. Contradictory to the hypothesis, the relationship between leader phubbing and perceived leader support was negative for male leaders only.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to existing research by (1) adding perceived support as an important mediator between leader phubbing and work engagement/performance, (2) exploring the effects of leader gender and (3) adding information on the cultural robustness of the leader phubbing phenomenon by testing it outside the Western work context.