Cyberloafing among Gen Z students: the role of norms, moral disengagement, multitasking self-efficacy, and psychological outcomes

This paper examines mobile cyberloafing, i.e. the use of phones for non-study purposes among Gen Z students, the first generation of digital natives. Drawing from research on misbehaviour and cyberloafing, we developed and tested a model with moral disengagement and subjective norms as predictors and psychological detachment and cognitive engagement as outcomes of cyberloafing. We also hypothesise that multitasking self-efficacy moderates the relationships between the antecedents and cyberloafing. Data were collected from 254 Gen Z students from a large state university in Europe. The findings show that subjective norms are negatively related to cyberloafing in class, while moral disengagement is positively related to it. In turn, cyberloafing is positively related to psychological detachment and negatively to cognitive engagement. The results also show a significant moderating effect for multitasking self-efficacy. Implications for research and practice are discussed, as well as future research opportunities.