Impact of social Media usage on technostress and cyber incivility

Abstract

Social media has become omnipresent in our personal and work lives; it is addictive and distracting. Its distractive nature can have adverse effects on an individual's behavior. To provide more insight into how technology influences various aspects of our social lives, this article draws on Social Exchange and Cognitive Theories as well as the Transactional Theory of Stress to investigate the potential impact of social media usage on technostress and cyber incivility, and the mediating role of technostress. The study adopted Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) on survey data obtained from (n = 324) lawyers. Results revealed that social media usage is a strong predictor for both technostress and cyber incivility of others (observed by the lawyers). Technostress also emerges as a key predictor for cyber incivility, and technostress mediates the link between social media usage and cyber incivility. The take home message for managers in the legal sector is the necessity of promoting awareness of excessive and uncontrolled usage of social media, as greater level of awareness will help to desensitize lawyers’ susceptibility to technostress and perception of cyber incivility of others. Implications for theory and practice alongside limitations are discussed.