Problematic internet use and safety behavior: The moderating role of safety climate

counterproductive behaviors, such as PIU. Some previous researches showed that more than half of Internet-enabled workers go online for individual purposes at an average rate of three hours per week [6] and some recent researches show that the number of hours has increased to almost 1h per day [7]. Other studies illustrated that workers go online for more than one hour for non-work-related activities at work per day [8]. Between 60% and 80% of workers use the internet for non-work-related activities, leading to around 30% to 40% decrease in produc- tivity [9]. It is estimated that Internet usage for non-work-related activities in the workplace in the United States costs approximately $85 billion yearly [10]. Internet usage for non-work- related activities in the workplace not only results in poor productivity but also slacks network security and makes the organization to cyber-attacks [11]. In addition to the aforementioned issues, PIU can lead to adverse physical and mental outcomes as well. Depressive symptoms [12], mental health problems [13], social fears [14], irritability and sleep problems [15] low physical [16], risk-taking behaviors [17], and poor academic performance [18] are some of these consequences reported by previous studies. PIU is associated with a decrease in a wide range of neuropsychological functions [19]. Studies demonstrated that some cognitive failures are related to PIU [20]. Hadlington [21] showed a connection between higher PIU use and self-reported cognitive failures in daily life.

Firth et al. [22] investigated the effect of the internet on attentional capacities, memory pro- cesses, and social cognition. They explained that the constant access and use of the Internet creates a tendency among individuals to use divided attention, making it difficult for them to perform tasks that require sustained attention. Moreover, excessive reliance on the internet and online information makes individuals reluctant to save information in their long-term memory and also disrupts memory retrieval of information [22–24]. Altogether, these explana- tions indicate that PIU can lead to cognitive failures which have been well-documented in pre- vious studies [20, 21]. On the other hand, cognitive failures have been known to play a major role in engaging in unsafe work behavior [25]. Furthermore, the constant access to online information may change the perception of individuals regarding their knowledge by making indistinct the line between one’s capabilities and her/his digital devices [22, 26]. The phenome- non can develop an illusion of “greater than actual knowledge” among individuals [22]. This state can be very dangerous in occupational settings where plenty of hazards are present. For example, an employee with the illusion of knowing everything about a process or task may ignore the available safety procedures (a type of unsafe work behavior). Such ignorance can result in unsafe behaviors and thereby industrial accidents. Consequently, and based on these explanations, it can be hypothesized that PIU can cause unsafe behavior in occupational settings.

Safety climate is the shared perception of employees toward safety within the organization [27]. Safety climate is one of the most important factors affecting safety behavior at workplaces [1, 28–30]. A wide range of factors has the capability of affecting safety behavior, safety climate, as a strong moderator, can attenuate the negative effect of such factors on safety behavior. According to Hussain et al. [31], the effect of socio-cognitive factors on the risky driving behavior of truck drivers is moderated by safety climate. The negative effects of job insecurity on safety outcomes such as safety behavior and occupational injuries are alleviated by a strong positive safety climate [32]. Zhou and Jiang [33] demonstrated that the relationship between leader-member exchange is positive when there is a strong safety climate in the workplace, while the relationship is negative when safety climate is poor. In the same vein, safety climate moderates the effect of stress responses on safety behavior [34]. Moreover, providing a strong positive safety climate has some additional benefits. For example, it makes less severe the nega- tive effect of staffing inadequacy and unpleasant work conditions on occupational injuries among nurses [35]. PIU can be an emerging cause of unsafe behavior at workplaces. So far, to PLOS ONE Problematic internet use and safety behavior PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279767 December 30, 2022 2 / 13