Journal of African Development

The pervasive use of social media and instant messaging applications has significantly reshaped employee behaviour in contemporary workplaces, particularly in private sector organisations. While digital connectivity facilitates communication and collaboration, it has also intensified social cyberloafing behaviour, wherein employees engage in non-work-related social media activities during working hours. The present study examines the influence of selected social cyberloafing behaviours among employees working in private sector organisations in Kerala. Using structured questionnaire data and regression-based analysis, the study evaluates key dimensions of social cyberloafing, including personal social media use, messaging behaviour, task switching, and online social interaction during work time. The findings reveal that all selected social cyberloafing indicators are statistically significant, with distraction from work responsibilities due to social media use emerging as the strongest predictor. The study contributes to the cyberloafing literature by empirically identifying dominant social cyberloafing behaviours and offers practical implications for managing digital distractions in organizational settings