Social media addiction and employee sleep: implications for performance and wellbeing in the hospitality industry

Purpose - This study is designed to investigate a critical association between social media addiction and employee sleep while considering its implications for employee well-being and performance in the hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach - Based on adapted measures for the study variables, an electronic questionnaire was designed and used for the survey administered in the chain-restaurants of Pakistan. Through a non-probability convenient sampling survey, a total of 347 usable responses were obtained and analyzed for testing the hypothesized research model. Findings - Results reveal negative associations between social media addiction, sleep quality, employee performance and well-being. The results have further shown sleep quality as an underlying mediating reason that explains the associations between social media addiction, employee performance and well-being. Originality/value - The study addresses a gap in the literature by examining rarely explored factors such as social media addiction and sleep quality at the same time investigating its impact on performance and wellbeing of service employees. Significant implications for scholars and practitioners of the hospitality industry have been discussed while highlighting limitations and directions for future research.