Effects Of Social Media On Mental Health And Body Image

Youngkeun Choi / Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business Vol 5 No 2 (2018) 95-104 95

 

Print ISSN: 2288-4637 / Online ISSN 2288-4645 doi:10.13106/jafeb.2018.vol5.no2.95

Narcissism and Social Media Addiction in Workplace

Youngkeun Choi1

Received: April 12, 2018. Revised: April 23, 2018. Accepted: May 15, 2018.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of narcissism on employees’ social media addiction and how it influences their job satisfaction and organizational commitment. And this study explores if perceived organizational support can moderate the relationship between narcissism and social media addiction. For this, this study collected data from 285 employees in Korean companies through a survey method and uses SPSS 18.0 for hierarchical regression analysis in the hypothesis test. First, organizational politics increases mood modification, withdrawal and tolerance among the sub-factors of social media addiction. Second, each phenomena of social media service addiction such as salience, withdrawal and tolerance decrease each relevant factors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Third, withdrawal and tolerance among the sub-factors of social media addiction play the mediating roles between narcissism and each relevant factors of job satisfaction/organizational commitment. Finally, perceived organizational support decrease the effect of narcissism on mood modification, withdrawal and tolerance among the sub-factors of social media addiction. This study provides some of managerial implications to corporate executives who try to manage organizational attitudes.

Keywords: Narcissism, Social Media Addiction, Perceived Organizational Support.

JEL Classification Code: C12, C83, M12, M14.

 

 

1. Introduction 1

Recently, social media has become increasingly popular across the world (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011). People enjoy social media in many various types of social activity including playing games, socializing, passing time, communicating, and posting pictures (Allen, Ryan, Gray, Mclnerney, & Waters, 2014; Ryan, Chester, Reece, & Xenos, 2014). Although it has been a normal activity, researchers have concerned about the potential addictive use of social media (Andreassen, 2015; Griffiths, Kuss, & Demetrovics, 2014).

General addiction model have explained such excessive and compulsive use (Griffiths, 2005). Scholars have suggested cyber-sexual addiction, social media addiction, net compulsions (e.g., stock trading, gambling, shopping), information overload, and computer addiction (e.g., games, programming) (Young, 1999). Therefore, addictive social media use is defined as being overly concerned about social media, driven by an uncontrollable motivation to log on to or use social media, and devoting so much time and effort to social media that it impairs other important life areas (Andreassen & Pallesen, 2014).

1 Associate Professor, Division of Business Administration, College

of Business, Sangmyung University, Seoul, Korea. E-mail: penking1@smu.ac.kr

As the social media enter the workplace, more needs of to be learned about its effects on the organizational behaviors of employees. However, most of the previous studies have focused on individual behaviors when examining this excessive consumption of new media (Echeburua & de Corral, 2010; Kuss & Griffiths, 2011), while research about social media addiction in the context of workplace is rare. Recently, employees use and commit social media excessively rather than work hard, which makes a matter of great concern in the workplaces. Thus, social media addiction should be viewed as one of the serious organizational problems arising in today’s workplace. Therefore, the present study will examine the antecedent and consequences of social media addiction in the context of workplace. And it will explore the mediating effects of social media addiction and find out the factors which can manage social media addiction in the workplace.

 

 

2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

 

2.1. Antecedents

A lot of researchers have suggested that personality influences addictive use of social media (e.g., Andreassen et al., 2012, 2013; Hong, Huang, Lin, & Chiu, 2014; Wilson,

 

 

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Fornasier, & White, 2010). Some recent research have argued that the popularity of social media are an increase in the levels of narcissism in today’s society (Mehdizadeh, 2010; Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). Especially, social media involve the features of communication that differ from offline communication and that might suit narcissistic tendencies (Valkenburg & Peter, 2011). First, social media provide easy access to a large number of other individuals. Users have the opportunity to send self-related information to a large audience and to receive feedback about oneself and information about others. Second, users can select the information they reveal about themselves. They can use pictures and words to communicate success and superiority. Third, the asynchronicity of communication on social media gives users the opportunity to craft their self-presentations meticulously.

Buffardi and Campbell (2008) showed that users’ self- reported grandiose narcissism was significantly related to the quantity of their social interactions (a composite measure of number of friends and number of wall posts) but not to the quantity of information listed in the “about self” section. Furthermore, they rated the extent of self-promoting content (mainly self-promotion in pictures and quotes) on the participants’ Facebook pages and correlated these ratings with self-reported grandiose narcissism. Several Facebook content indicators such as self-promoting quotes yielded a positive relationship with self-reported narcissism, whereas others (e.g., self-promoting pictures) did not. These results show that narcissists appear to be particularly attracted to activities that reinforce their sense of self- importance and provide the means to present themselves favorably to others. They further strive for a large audience by gathering a large number of Facebook friends and craft frequent status updates that reflect their grandiose self- image.

This seems to be meaningful as social media use allows people to show their ambitions and successes to a potentially large audience, and to obtain highly visible rewards and recognition through “likes” and positive comments from other social media users. Recent studies appear to refer to narcissism as a relatively broad behavioral trait domain, expressed by, among others, self- centered grandiosity, arrogance, manipulativeness, and similar features (Alarcón & Sarabia, 2012). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders formally recognize narcissistic personality disorder which is a pathological form of narcissism in terms of high levels of self-importance, fantasies of unlimited success, feeling special and unique, lack of empathy, envy, and arrogance (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). However, more moderate and non- clinical levels of narcissistic traits have sometimes been regarded as healthy by providing an outlet for self-

confidence and self-assertion (Cambell, Reeder, Sedikides, & Elliot, 2000; Muller, 2014). Although the definition of social media addiction is inconsistent, social media may serve as a gratifying medium for people with high level of narcissistic traits particularly. When they repeat this iterative patterns of showing their ambitions and successes and obtaining highly visible rewards and recognition in social media world, the level of their psychological dependency on social media increases. Accordingly, the following hypothesis is established.

 

<Hypothesis 1> Narcissism will be positively associated with social media addiction.

 

2.2. Consequences

Most of researches concerning social media addiction have argued that it made many kinds of negative influence on users. Social network service usage can lead to a variety of negative consequences that imply a potential decrease in involvement in real-life communities (Nyland, Marvez, & Beck, 2007) and worse academic performance (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010), as well as relationship problems (Tokunaga, 2011) in the various context. For example, the results of 184 Internet users’ online survey indicated that people who use SNS more in terms of time spent on usage are less involved with their real life communities (Nyland, Marvez, & Beck, 2007). According to the recent study (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010), which assessed relationships between Facebook usage and academic performance in a sample of 219 university students, Facebook users had lower Grade Point Averages and spent less time for studying than students who did not use Facebook. 26% of students recognized an impact of their SNS usage on their lives, three-quarters (74%) claimed that it had a negative impact, namely procrastination, distraction, and poor time- management. A potential explanation for this may be that students who used the Internet to study may have been distracted by the simultaneous engagement in SNS as this multitasking is detrimental to academic achievements (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010). The usage of Facebook also may produce negative consequences for romantic relationships in some circumstances. The disclosure of rich private information on one’s Facebook page including status updates, comments, pictures, and new friends, can result in jealous cyberstalking (Phillips, 2009), including interpersonal electronic surveillance (Tokunaga, 2011) by one’s partner. This was reported to lead to jealousy (Muise, Christofides, & Desmarais, 2009; Persch, 2007) and, in the most extreme cases, divorce and associated legal actions (Luscombe, 2009).

However, few studies of social media addiction have been interested in the context of workplace. Similar to the above contexts, although social media use provides users psychological rewards, they are likely to engage in the

 

 

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activity more and more, which eventually leads to many problems in workplace. If employees spend a lot of time using and committing social media excessively rather than work hard, it will make a matter of negative consequences in the workplace. I suggest job satisfaction and organizational commitment as two kinds of the organizational attitudes of employees which are negatively influenced by social media addiction.

First, job satisfaction conveys useful information about an individual’s economic, social, and personal life as it is a major determinant of labor market mobility (Freeman, 1978; Park et al., 2016), job performance (Mount et al., 2006), and personal well-being (Rode, 2004). Similar to other context, if employees use social media more in terms of time spent on usage, they are less interested in their real life in workplace, which their job satisfaction decreases. Second, relevant studies defined organizational commitment in terms of nature of relationship (Grusky, 1996; Chun et al., 2016; Kwon & Yang, 2015), loyalty to employer (Kim et al. 1996), integration of individual and organizational goals (Hall, 1970), identification with or attachment to the organization (Romsek, 1989), readiness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization, and strong desire to remain a member of the organization (Balaji, 1985). When employees are more addictive in social media use, they are more likely not only to ignore their real life in workplace, which their organizational commitment decreases. Accordingly, the following hypothesis is established.

 

<Hypothesis 2> Social media addiction will be negatively associated with job satisfaction.

<Hypothesis 3> Social media addiction will be negatively associated with organizational commitment.

 

2.3. Mediating effect

Recently, narcissism in organization management has become a growing area. Although the growth of research on narcissism has not yet been integrated with a model of organizational management, narcissism seems to have some significant implications for organizational management. Organizational management tries to align employees’ efforts in pursuit of organizational goals through planning, assessing performance, providing feedback, and adapting accordingly (Aguinis, 2013; Aguinis & Poerce, 2008; DeNisi & Pritchard, 2006). Organizational management leads to higher employee performance if it strengthen the linkages between employees’ action and their need satisfaction (DeNisi & Pritchard, 2006).

Research focused on the antecedents of job satisfaction has shifted appreciably since the mid-eighties from a focus on role perceptions and organizational variables to how

personality traits might influence these feelings. Narcissistic employees with more ego threats from their jobs are less satisfied with their jobs. Because of the exploitiveness/ entitlement and superiority/arrogance components of their narcissistic personality (Wallace & Baumeister, 2002; Judge et al., 2006; Maynard et al., 2015).

Narcissism has been linked to workplace deviance and contextual performance (Judge, LePine, & Rich, 2006, O’Boyle, Forsyth, Banks, & McDanel, 2012). This issue become important due to the growth in narcissism, which researchers consider an epidemic (Twenge & Campbell, 2009). Due to their selfish nature, sense of entitlement, exploitive personalities, sense of superiority, and social callousness, they seem quite likely to engage in deviant organizational and deviant interpersonal dimensions of salesperson deviant behaviors described by Jelinek and Ahearne (2006). Therefore, those with the higher level of narcissism are less committed to their organizations. As results, they shows more counterproductive work attitudes.

I explore the possibility of mediating effect of SNS addiction between the narcissism and the work attitudes of employees. The employees with high level of narcissistic traits in workplaces can use social media to show their ambitions and successes and obtain highly visible rewards and recognition in social media world. However, although they may have self-confidence and self-assertion (Cambell, Reeder, Sedikides, & Elliot, 2000; Muller, 2014), they cannot help repeating this iterative patterns through using social media addictively, so that their job satisfaction and organizational commitment will decrease. Accordingly, the following hypothesis is established.

 

<Hypothesis 4> Social media addiction will mediate the relationship between narcissism and job satisfaction.

<Hypothesis 5> Social media addiction will mediate the relationship between narcissism and organizational commitment.

 

2.4. Moderator

Organizational support theory (OST) suggests that employees form expectancies of support based on the degree to which the organization both values employees’ contributions and demonstrates concern for their well-being (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchinson, & Sowa, 1986). Based on OST, I expect perceived organizational support (POS) to buffer the positive relationship between narcissism and work attitudes. A supportive work environment signals that the employee is a valued member of the organization, which can lead to resource accumulation through its positive impact on one’s sense of self-worth and its satisfaction of

 

 

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the fundamental human need for belongingness (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002). Self-esteem and feeling a sense of belonging are both important socio-emotional resources and so events or experiences that replenish or increase them can potentially counteract the socio-emotional resources that narcissism demands.

Narcissism is referred to as a relatively broad behavioral trait domain, expressed by, among others, self-centered grandiosity, arrogance, manipulativeness, and similar features (Alarcón & Sarabia, 2012). These traits provide an outlet for self-confidence and self-assertion (Cambell, Reeder, Sedikides, & Elliot, 2000; Muller, 2014). Because social media use allows people to show their ambitions and successes to a potentially large audience, and to obtain highly visible rewards and recognition and positive comments from other social media users, the level of their psychological dependency on social media increases. However, more employees perceive that the organization values employees’ contributions and demonstrates concern for their well-being, less they need to be addictive in social media. Accordingly, the following hypothesis is established.

 

<Hypothesis 6> POS will decrease the positive relationship between narcissism and social media addiction.

 

 

3. Methodology

3.1. Data collection and sample

The objective of the study is to identify behavioral factors related to social media addiction by an empirical test. The factors of organizational behaviors can be identified by measuring organization’s members’ perceptions in the workplace situations. I adopted an online survey method using a convenience sampling for data collection as it is very useful in collecting data from a large number of individuals in a relatively short period of time and at better cost.

To test our hypotheses of this study, a self-completion questionnaire was administered to business office workers (20-59 years old) in South Korea. All participants received an email requesting for this online survey with an accompanying email that explains the purpose of the survey, emphasized a voluntary participation, and guaranteed confidently. Participants were asked to fill out the questionnaire.

The survey questionnaire consisted of three parts. In the first part of survey questionnaire, participants were instructed to read the purpose of the survey. The second part of the questionnaire included the items measuring the respondent’s narcissism, social media addiction, job satisfaction, organizational commitment. The third part of the study consisted of basic information about firm profiles

and respondents’ characteristics, using nominal scales (e.g., demographic variables, the industry of their companies, the number of employee, tenure, etc.)

Finally, I collected 285 complete responses from the online survey. The characteristics of respondents is reported in Table 1 (e.g., age, gender, the industry of their companies, the number of employees in their companies, tenure, the level of their education, the marital status). Table 1. Sample Profile

Variables Items Percentages

Age

20’s 24.6

30’s 27.4

40’s 22.4

50’s 25.6

Gender Male 46.3

Female 53.7

Industry of their company

Manufacturing 28.8

Construction 10.2

Service 32.2

Public agency 5.6

Wholesale/retail 8.1

Etc. 15.1

Number of Employee

in their company

Less than 10 20.7

11~50 29.8

51~300 29.5

301~1000 7.1

More than 1001 12.9

Tenure

Less than 5 years 53.3

6~9 years 23.5

10~14 years 12.3

15~19 years 4.2

More than 20 years 6.7

Level of their education

Middle school 0.7

High school 15.8

Community college 20.8

Undergraduate school 52.9

Graduate school 9.8

Position

Staff 44.6

Assistant manager 18.2

Manager 15.4

Senior manager 13.3

Director 6.3

Etc. 2.1

Marital Status Married 54.7

Single 45.3

 

 

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3.2. Measurement

Table 2 show the measurements of variables in the present study.

 

Table 2. The measurements of variables

Variables Sub-factors References

Narcissism – Ames et al.(2006)

Social media addiction

Salience

Andreassen et al.(2017)

Conflict

Mood modification

Withdrawal

Tolerance

relapse

Job satisfaction

Work

Smith et al.(1969)

Pay

Promotion

Colleague

Supervision

Organizational commitment

Affective commitment

Allen & Meyer(1990) Continuance commitment

Normative commitment

Perceived organizational support – Wayne et al.(1987)

 

Table 3. Variables’ correlation coefficient and other statistics

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Narcissism 1

Salience -.062 1