THE MEDIATING ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FEAR OF MISSING OUT AND SOCIAL CYBERLOAFING

OpenAlex Türkçe

This study aims to examine the effect of fear of missing out (FoMO) on social cyberloafing and to investigate the mediating role of social media addiction in this relationship among academic and administrative staff. Data were collected from 235 academic and administrative staff members working at a public university in Türkiye through an online questionnaire. Analyses were conducted including descriptive statistics, reliability and validity analyses, correlation analyses, and mediation testing via the Process macro. The results indicated a weak but significant positive relationship between FoMO and social media addiction, and moderate positive relationships between social media addiction and social cyberloafing, as well as between FoMO and social cyberloafing. Mediation analysis revealed that social media addiction fully mediates the relationship between FoMO and social cyberloafing. The findings suggest that employees with higher levels of FoMO are more likely to develop social media addiction, which in turn increases their engagement in social cyberloafing behaviors in the workplace.