The Impact of Personal Social Media Ubiquity on Individuals’ Overtime Work and Job Performance

Background: The ubiquity of personal social media (PSM) enables individuals to access vast amounts of information, including work-related information, regardless of time and geographic limitation. It provides individuals with the autonomy to allocate their work schedule, especially accomplishing work tasks after official hours. We call this phenomenon “PSM-enabled overtime work” (PSMOW). However, considering the multi-dimensional nature of PSM ubiquity—immediacy, continuity, portability, and searchability—limited knowledge has been documented on how these dimensions contribute to individuals’ PSMOW distinctly. In addition, the influence of PSMOW on individuals’ job performance is unclear, due to the existence of both potential benefits and challenges. Therefore, this study is to investigate how various dimensions of PSM ubiquity influence individuals’ PSMOW and job performance. In addition, this study examines the moderating role of multitasking capability. Method: Drawing on information technology affordance theory and affective event theory, this study proposes a conceptual model and tests it with data collected from a three-wave survey of 600 employees. PLS-SEM is used to examine the hypotheses. Results: The results show the distinct effects of the four dimensions of PSM ubiquity in that the immediacy and searchability of PSM contribute to PSMOW, whereas continuity and portability do not. Additionally, PSMOW increases emotional exhaustion and worsens job performance; however, employees with high multitasking experience less emotional exhaustion caused by PSMOW. Conclusion: The findings complement the existing literature on PSM ubiquity by exploring the influence of dimensions of PSM ubiquity on individuals' job performance through the induction of PSMOW and emotional exhaustion. Additionally, the study adds to the literature by discovering that multitasking capability can alleviate employees' emotional exhaustion resulting from PSMOW. Moreover, our study offers implications for PSM developers to design more control functions and for managers to adjust their managerial style towards PSM-enabled work-related tasks after office hours, especially for Asia Pacific region.