Professionally phubbed: a mixed-method experiment measuring the effects of phone snubbing behaviour during a job interview

Abstract

Phubbing (i.e. ignoring someone while using a phone) may occur at work, having an impact on the phubbee, the phubber and the organization at large. We used a mixed method experiment to examine the impact of phubbing on different work-related variables such as objective performance, extra-role behaviour, subjective states, and first impression judgements during job interviews. Ninety-three participants took part in a simulated job interview based on the Trier Social Stress Test. In the experimental group, participants were repeatedly phubbed during both the interview and a subsequent performance test. At the end of the experiment, phubbed participants were asked to describe their experience and thematic analysis was used to evaluate their responses. Overall, results of the quantitative analysis revealed that first impressions, judgements and subjective states were negatively affected by phubbing. Regarding performance, a within-session analysis revealed that participants performed faster on a performance test (mental arithmetic task) when they were not phubbed compared to when they were phubbed. No effect of phubbing was found on extra-role behaviour. A qualitative analysis of responses revealed considerable differences between interviewees in their use of coping strategies (e.g., rationalization of phubbing). These findings suggest the need to address phubbing at the workplace.