From “Always-On” to “Did I Miss It?”: A Three-Country Study on Technological Work Experiences

Abstract

The concept of fear of missing out (FoMO) has gained increasing popularity in the broader social psychology literature, yet scholarship on work-related FoMO is relatively nascent. We extend this literature to electronic availability expectations as a particularly relevant organizational antecedent of workplace FoMO. Although the existing literature suggests many downsides of FoMO, we posit that work-related FoMO may present a paradox resulting in both beneficial and harmful effects depending on the cognitive mechanisms at play and potential boundary conditions. In this cross-cultural study with a sample of K-12 teachers from South Korea, China, and Germany, we examined the implications of electronic availability expectations on teachers’ work engagement through effects on workplace FoMO and rumination. Additionally, we explored how individual perceptions of a cultural dimension, uncertainty avoidance, may moderate these relationships. Latent change score analyses with three-wave longitudinal data collected from the three countries were performed. Electronic availability expectations predicted increases in workplace FoMO, which predicted increases in both types of rumination (affective rumination and problem-solving pondering). While affective rumination predicted decreases in engagement, problem-solving pondering predicted increases, suggesting a double-edged sword downstream effect. The indirect effect from electronic availability expectation to engagement was observed only via problem-solving pondering. Uncertainty avoidance moderated the effect of workplace FoMO on increases in problem-solving pondering; the effect was stronger for individuals with higher uncertainty avoidance. More similarities than differences were found across countries, suggesting the implications of electronic availability expectations on individuals’ well-being might be a shared experience across cultures.