Browsing Away From Rude Emails: Effects of Daily Active and Passive Email Incivility on Employee Cyberloafing

The increasing prevalence of information communication technologies (e.g., computers, smartphones, and the internet) has made the experience of email incivility and the engagement in cyberloafing more common in the workplace. In this present study, we examined how experiencing email incivility at work can positively predict employees’ cyberloafing. Based on affective events theory, we examined negative emotions as a mediator and trait prevention focus and daily workload as moderators. With daily diary data collected twice per day over 10 workdays from 113 full-time employees, we found that morning passive email incivility positively predicted afternoon cyberloafing via midday negative emotions while morning active email incivility did not. Further, trait prevention focus significantly moderated the relationship between active email incivility and negative emotions while daily workload significantly moderated the relationship between passive email incivility and negative emotions.