Iqbal_Shahzeb-Literature_Review

Title: The spillover effect of online vigilance on employees’ absent-mindedness and creative
behavior: A coping mechanism

Introduction:

Smartphones have become an integral part of human life, leading to the phenomenon of online
vigilance or a constant awareness of web communication and online interaction. This practice
diverts employees' focus, making them absent-minded during working hours and decreasing their
creativity, ultimately reducing their productivity. The problematic use of smartphones makes
employees blind in viewing current tasks, affecting their efficiency and wasting organizational
resources. Therefore, it is important to investigate the implications of online vigilance on IT
managers' mental and creative behavior. This study aims to examine the relationship between online
vigilance and creative behavior through the mediation of absent-mindedness and the moderating role
of perceived behavioral control. The conservation of resource theory suggests that technological
stressors deplete employee cognitive resources, which may reduce their work-related creativity and
engagement. Therefore, perceived behavioral control can help to protect mental resources by
reducing the negative influence of online vigilance on absent-mindedness. This study contributes to
the theory and literature by adding new knowledge to the relationship between online vigilance and
creative behavior and its effect on workplace outcomes. It also provides practical contributions
for organizations to track employee performance and better plan procedures for employees' high
performance.

Literature Review:

Online Vigilance:

Online communication offers various rewards, satisfying inherent needs, and providing readily
accessible online communication and knowledge incentives for every area of life (Reinecke et al.,
2018; Klimmt et al., 2017). Online vigilance, a learned trait, includes aim-sloping, inspired
actions and focus, and subsequent action and media exposure, and can be adaptable or maladaptive
(Reinecke et al., 2018). It has the ability to foster or hinder well-being, depending on various
mechanisms (Reinecke et al., 2018). However, constant connectedness (online vigilance) can lead to
absent-mindedness and distraction from pleasing moments (Shin & Shin, 2016), and adversely affects
cognitive and physiological well-being, damaging the work-to-family environment.

Online vigilance causes technostress, a modern adaptation disease, leading to the inability to
focus on a single problem, increased irritability, and a feeling of lack of control (Ab Ghani et
al., 2017). To foster well-being, continuous exposure to pleasing contents, diversions from
displeasing practices, and fulfilling social needs could be effective (Johannes et al., 2018).

Absentmindedness:

Absentmindedness is a state of inattentiveness to ongoing tasks and of losing control of their
present objectives. It involves the inability to focus on information, resulting from a lack of
effortful consideration control (Blume et al., 2019). Forgetfulness and mind-wandering are similar
concepts to absentmindedness, where mind-wandering is a form of task-irrelevant considerations that
can adversely impact well-being (Johannes et al., 2018). Mind-wandering is generally correlated
with a decline in job efficiency and task performance, as simple tasks require less attentional
resources, leaving more space for task-disconnected thinking.

Creative Behaviour:

Creative behaviour has been defined as “The individual’s actions to generate, introduce and
implement beneficial novelty in the organization” (West and Farr 1989, p. 16). In this study,
innovative behaviour is a great strength of employees, which engages employees in the creative
process and also leads them towards innovation, which is one of the important factors for IT
managers’ survival in a service industry (Iqbal et al. 2020).

Perceived Behavioral Control:

The Planned Behavior Theory (TPB), introduced by Ajzen (1991), is a widely recognized paradigm for
interpreting behavior in the field of social psychology. TPB is based on the idea that behavior is
determined by behavior intentions, which are functions of independent TPB constructs, such as
attitudes, subjective norms, and Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC). PBC, described as "a
perception of a person to perform a behavior of interest with ease or difficulty," is considered to
be the most contentious construction in TPB, partly because of the inconsistency in its effect on
intent and partly because of the inconsistency in its conceptualization and operationalization
(Vamvaka et al., 2020).

The idea of PBC has been introduced to deal with circumstances where people can lose full
volitional influence over the behavior of concern. The reasoned-action approach suggests that
behavioral intention is the most significant indicator of behavior, and perceived behavioral
control depends on the confidence and precision of perceptions. The concept of PBC has led many
researchers to substitute it with self-efficacy in their studies, as PBC and self-efficacy are
essentially identical constructions (Vamvaka et al., 2020). Additionally, Perceived behavioral
control is segregated into the "Perceived self-efficacy" or the perceived stability, and Perceived
self-efficacy can be calculated in terms of the perceived complexity and perceived confidence.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the literature review highlights the complex relationship between online vigilance,
absent-mindedness, creative behavior, and perceived behavioral control. It emphasizes the potential
negative impact of online vigilance on employees' cognitive resources and well-being, as well as
the importance of perceived behavioral control in mitigating these consequences. The review also
underscores the significance of fostering creative behavior in the workplace, particularly for IT
managers in the service industry. By synthesizing existing research, this review lays the
foundation for a comprehensive investigation of these interconnected concepts and their practical
implications for organizations aiming to improve employee performance in a digital age.

References:

Klimmt, C., Hefner, D., Reinecke, L., Rieger, D., & Vorderer, P. (2017). The Permanently Online and
Permanently Connected Mind:Mapping the Cognitive Structures behind Mobile Internet Use. New York:
Routledge., 1-22.

Reinecke, L., Klimmt, C., Meier, A., Reich, S., Hefner, D., Knop-Huelss, K., Vorderer, P. (2018).
Permanently online and permanently connected: Development and validation of the Online Vigilance
Scale. PLoS ONE, 13(10), 1-31.

Shin, J., & Shin, M. (2016). To Be Connected or Not To Be Connected? Mobile Messenger Overload,
Fatigue, and Mobile Shunning. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, And Social Networking, 19(10), 579-586.

Johannes, N., Veling, H., Meier, A., Reinecks, L., & Bujzan, M. (2018). Mind-Wandering and
Mindfulness as Mediators of the Relationship Between Online Vigilance and Well-Being.
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, And Social Networking, 21(12), 761-767.

Ab Ghani, S. N., Ismail, S. N., Manshor, M., Sah Allam, S. N., Ramlan, A. F., & Abdul Latiff, D. I.
(2017). A study on technostress among first semester postgraduate students in Universiti Teknologi
Mara, Shah Alam. Journal of Academia, 5(1), 118-126.

Blume, F., Göllner, R., Moeller, K., Dreslerb, T., Ehlisb, A.-C., & Gawrilow, C. (2019). Do
students learn better when seated close to the teacher? A virtual classroom study considering
individual levels of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. Learning and Instruction, 61,
138-147.

Ajzen, I. (1991). The Theory of Planned Behavior. Organizational Behavior And Human Decision
Processes, 50(2), 179-211.

Iqbal, Z., A. Faheem, and S. Aslam. 2020. “Technology Tetheredness and Creative Process Engagement
During COVID-19: A Moderated Mediation.” Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences 14(4):
1043–64.

Vamvaka, V., Stoforos, C., Palaskas, T., & Botsaris, C. (2020). Attitude Toward Entrepreneurship,
Perceived Behavioral Control, And Entrepreneurial Intention: Dimensionality, Structural
Relationships, And Gender Differences. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 9(1), 1-26.