Understanding BallotLoafing at work: examining employee loafing during political elections

Purpose Given the concept of loafing at work and its IT equivalent, cyberloafing, we propose the concept of BallotLoafing to metaphorically describe a similar phenomenon occurring during political elections. BallotLoafing describes how employees’ attention can become absorbed by discussions, debates or following news related to an election, shifting focus away from work tasks. This study aims to investigate the effects of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control on employees’ intention to engage in BallotLoafing behaviors through the lens of the theory of planned behavior. Additionally, the research explores the moderating role of political belief in the relationship between these variables. Design/methodology/approach The statistical population of this research was the employees of public organizations in Isfahan, Iran. We conducted a two-wave lagged survey. The data were collected during the 2024 elections for the 12th convocation of the Islamic Parliament of Iran. This study used structural equation modeling to examine the proposed model. Findings Employees’ attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control positively impacted employees’ intention to engage in BallotLoafing. In addition, behavioral intention positively impacted actual BallotLoafing behaviors. Finally, the results showed that the political belief did not play a moderating role in the relationship between these variables. Practical implications Managing or reducing BallotLoafing involves addressing the key factors that influence such behavior: attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. Originality/value This research introduces a novel concept: BallotLoafing, which captures employee distraction during elections.