The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Negative Emotions Among Chinese Medical College Students: The Mediating Role of Fear of Missing Out and the Moderating Role of Resilience

The Double-Edged Sword Effect of Leaders' Fear of Missing Out on Leaders' Creativity: An Experience Sampling Method Study

Purpose

Fear of Missing out (FoMO) is a widely observed phenomenon in the workplace. Previous research has primarily focused on employees' FoMO, with limited exploration of leaders' FoMO and its impact on their creativity. This study aims to investigate how leaders' FoMO affects their creativity, based on the transactional stress theory.

Patients and Methods

Using an experience sampling method, we collected 836 observations from 102 leaders across various industries in China for two consecutive weeks (10 working days). Subsequently, hierarchical regression analysis and structural equation modeling were employed to test the hypotheses.

Results

This study suggests that both challenge stress and hindrance stress mediate the relationship between leaders' FoMO and their creativity. Role breadth self-efficacy moderates the relationship between leaders' FoMO and challenge stress and hindrance stress, and moderates the positive and negative mediating effects of challenge stress and hindrance stress in the relationship between leaders' FoMO and their creativity.

Conclusion

Research has shown that leaders' FoMO can either enhance creative performance by increasing challenge stress or inhibit it by increasing hindrance stress. Role breadth self-efficacy significantly amplifies the positive relationship between leaders' FoMO and challenge stress, while moderating the negative effect of leaders' FoMO on hindrance stress.

Innovations

Firstly, this study expands workplace FoMO research by illustrating the double-edged sword effect of leaders' FoMO on their creativity. Secondly, this study contributes to the academic community's comprehension of the underlying mechanisms linking leaders' FoMO and its outcomes by demonstrating the mediating role of challenge stress and hindrance stress. Thirdly, the study shows the boundary conditions for the effects of leaders' FoMO by validating the moderating role of their role breadth self-efficacy.

The Impact of Problematic Social Media Use on Inhibitory Control and the Role of Fear of Missing Out: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

Introduction

The general deficit in inhibitory control of problematic social media users has received widespread attention. However, the neural correlates of problematic social media use (PSMU) and inhibitory control remain unclear. Additionally, the co-occurrence of the fear of missing out (FoMO) with social media use is common, yet its role in the relationship between PSMU and inhibitory control has not been investigated.

Methods

This study aimed to examine the electrophysiological correlates of PSMU and inhibitory control using a modified two-choice oddball task combined with event-related potentials (ERPs), and to explore the role of FoMO in this relationship. A total of 66 participants with varying degrees of PSMU were included in the analysis based on the Problematic Mobile Social Media Usage Questionnaire.

Results

The study found that PSMU could impact inhibitory control. Specifically, as the PSMU score increases, the N2 amplitude is greater for social media-related pictures, and the P3 amplitude is smaller, while no significant differences are observed for neutral pictures. This suggests that PSMU affects inhibitory control by consuming more cognitive resources in the early conflict detection stage and leading to insufficient cognitive resources in the later stages of the inhibitory process. Furthermore, FoMO played a mediating role between PSMU and inhibitory control. PSMU could further impact inhibitory control through FoMO.

Conclusion

This study provides electrophysiological evidence for deficits in inhibitory control in PSMU and suggests that FoMO may further reduce inhibitory control in PSMU individuals.

Need for Affect, Problematic Social Media Use and the Mediating Role of Fear of Missing Out in European and Arab Samples

Purpose

The growing awareness and concern about the excessive use of social media have led to an increasing number of studies investigating the underlying factors contributing to this behavior. In the literature, it is discussed that problematic social media use (PSMU) can impact individuals' mental health and well-being. Drawing on the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model, this study aimed to examine the association between the need for affect (affect approach and affect avoidance) and PSMU (operationalized via the social media disorder scale), as well as the mediating role of fear of missing out (FoMO) in that relation.

Participants and Methods

Data were collected via an online survey from 513 participants in European and Arabic countries. Regression and mediation analyses were conducted to explore the relationships between affect approach, affect avoidance, FoMO, and PSMU.

Results

Regression analysis results indicated that both affect approach and affect avoidance as part of the need for affect construct significantly predicted PSMU in both cultural contexts. Mediation analysis showed that FoMO partially mediated the relationship between affect approach and PSMU in the Arab sample but not in the European sample. Beyond this, FoMO partially mediated the relationship between affect avoidance and PSMU in both cultural samples.

Conclusion

The present study indicates that managing emotions could be an effective strategy to combat PSMU. In line with this and against the background of the data business model behind social media companies, we deem it to be of importance to minimize triggers related to FoMO in the design of social media platforms (for example, push notifications). This might be particularly relevant for individuals with a high inclination towards affect approach and affect avoidance.