The Effect of Professional Social Media Usage on Procrastination and Work Engagement in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract

Given the interruptions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic for organizational practices globally, professional social media usage (PSMU) has increased, undergoing changes in its use patterns. During enforced remote work practices, work-leisure boundary management and digital communication have become crucial for employee efficiency. This study analyzed how PSMU affected remote workers' work engagement and procrastination from the perspectives of work-leisure boundary conflict and work-related and nonwork-related social media communication. Longitudinal data were collected from the Finnish working population, with the first wave conducted in March-April 2019 (N = 1,817) and the second wave, used in this study, conducted in March-April 2021 (N = 1,018). The data were analyzed via partial least squares path modeling using multi-group and longitudinal data analysis methods. The results showed that for remote workers during the pandemic, (1) nonwork-related social media communication and PSMU lost their significant effect on procrastination, (2) work-leisure boundary conflict had an increased negative effect on work engagement, and (3) nonwork-related social media communication's positive effect on work engagement increased. Our findings entail implications for the strategic use of PSMU in remote work practices. Theoretically, this study contributes by analyzing the longitudinal effects of technological affordances and by analyzing the effects of belongingness theory, work/family boundary theory, and role conflict theory on online mediums and in remote working contexts.