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Beyond productivity: the relational ethics of cyberloafing in digitally mediated work
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DOI：10.1007/s00146-025-02820-x.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Cyberloafing is often portrayed either as a counterproductive act or as a stress-coping mechanism, but such binary interpretations obscure its ethical and relational dimensions. This review reframes cyberloafing as a morally contingent behavior whose ethical significance arises from its social consequences rather than from the act itself. Drawing on moral psychology, construal level theory, relational ethics, and the sociology of work, the paper elucidates how digitally mediated and hybrid environments reshape the perception, interpretation, and moral salience of everyday online behaviors. It also develops the concept of digital moral sensitivity—the capacity to perceive moral implications in technologically mediated interactions—and explores how this sensitivity is challenged or cultivated in hybrid work settings. Methodologically, the review integrates theoretical and empirical literature through an interpretive synthesis. Practically, it offers a relational ethics lens that prioritizes care, trust, and empathic concern over punitive control, providing actionable guidance for organizations navigating the ethics of digital collaboration. By shifting the focus from individual antecedents to contextual consequences, this paper advances an understanding of cyberloafing as a socially embedded moral phenomenon that reflects the evolving moral economy of work in digital society.
Keywords:
Cyberloafing
Relational ethics
Hybrid work
Moral economy
Digital moral sensitivity
Empathic concern
Digital collaboration
Sociology of work
Organizational behavior
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