“I can't look at you while talking!” – fear of missing out and smartphone addiction as predictors of consumer's phubbing behavior

Abstract

Purpose

Smartphones have become a vital element of daily life and because of this ongoing reliance, consumer' attention is drawn to online platforms, which may harm societal communications. Therefore, this paper investigates a behavioral addiction known as “fear of missing out” (FoMO), which causes anxiety and leads to more problematic smartphone usage and phubbing behavior (PB). In addition, this paper examines the multidimensional perspective of smartphone addiction (SMA) and the moderating role of Big 5 personality types in the aforesaid relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

An online questionnaire was administered, to collect data from 468 smartphone users from universities across India. Partial least squares structural equation modeling and Hayes' PROCESS macros were employed as statistical tools for analysis.

Findings

Results highlight that there is a significant association between FoMO and PB with SMA as a significant mediator with partial mediation effect.

Originality/value

Conscientiousness, neuroticism and extroversion were found to be significant moderators in the model. Further, the findings raise awareness regarding smartphone etiquette and additional technology literacy required in this field.

Citation

Paul, J., Manchanda, P., Arora, N. and Aggarwal, A. (2024), "“I can't look at you while talking!” – fear of missing out and smartphone addiction as predictors of consumer's phubbing behavior", Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 666-687. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-06-2023-0177