How does personality matter? Investigating the impact of big-five personality traits on cyberloafing

Abstract

Cyberloafing is the voluntary acts of individuals using their companies' Internet access for nonwork related purposes during working hours. This study examines the impact of personality traits on cyberloafing as measured objectively by time spent by individuals on non-work related purposes. Specifically, we investigated (1) the main effects of Big-Five personality traits (Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience) on time spent on cyberloafing, and (2) the interaction effect of Extroversion and Conscientiousness on time spent on cyberloafing. Results show that only agreeableness and extroversion significantly predicted time spent on cyberloafing. In addition, results indicate that conscientiousness interacted with extroversion in predicting cyberloafing. Implications of our findings are discussed.