Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of supervisor phubbing on employee
turnover intention and commitment. Building on the conservation of resources (COR) model,
this study tests the mediating role of organizational justice and moderating role of organization based self-esteem (OBSE). Furthermore, employees of the IT and consumer services industry
are considered to determine the supervisor phubbing phenomenon. Data is collected through a
survey questionnaire from employees of the IT and consumer service sector of Pakistan. Both
printed and online questionnaires were distributed to the respondents majorly in the vicinity of
Islamabad and Rawalpindi. A total of 256 employees participated in this study. Furthermore, a
detailed statistical analysis is performed using SPSS and SmartPLS to test the hypotheses.
Supervisor phubbing negatively affected turnover intention at workplace. Organizational
justice significantly showed a mediating role between supervisor phubbing, employee
commitment and turnover intention. However, organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) didn’t
moderate the relationship between supervisor phubbing and organizational justice. Similarly,
supervisor phubbing has no direct and significant impact on employee commitment. Supervisor
Phubbing occurs due to a supervisor’s engagement in his phone and is distracted while having
a conversation with his employee. Its impact on turnover intention and employee commitment
presents a new dimension to the existing literature. The mediation of organizational justice
helps the organizations in understanding the process through which supervisor phubbing can
have a negative influence on the employees attitudes and behaviors. Hence, firstly, this study
is the first to study the impact of supervisor phubbing on employee commitment and turnover
intention. Secondly, it studies the moderating role of organization-based self-esteem (OBSE)
in relationship to supervisor phubbing and organizational justice. Finally, the mediating role of
organizational justice is studied in the relationship between supervisor phubbing, employee
commitment and turnover intention.
