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

Construct validity Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to assess the construct validity of variables. The CFA model is depicted in Fig 2 and it was satisfactory in terms of both absolute and compara- tive model fit indices: Chie-square/df = 2.47, RMSEA = 0.055, GFI = 0.939, NFI = 0.954, RFI = 0.942, IFI = 0.972, TLI = 0.964, and CFI = 0.972. SFL of each item on the related con- struct and AVE were two criteria based on which convergent validity was evaluated. Two items related to the PIU had an SFL lower than 0.3, so they were excluded. As demonstrated in Table 2, all SFLs are higher than 0.3 and all AVEs are higher than 0.5, so the convergent valid- ity of the constructs is satisfactory. Discriminant validity was assessed by comparing AVE root square of variables with their correlation coefficients. As the AVE root square of all variables was higher than correlation coefficients among them, the discriminant validity of variables was also supported. Bivariate analysis The results of bivariate analyses are presented in Table 3. Based on the type of variables, Pear- son or Spearman coefficients were calculated. As evident, personal characteristics such as age, experience, and marital status had no significant correlation with PIU, safety climate, and safety behavior. PIU was negatively related to both safety behavior and safety climate. As expected, a significant positive relationship was also observed between safety climate and safety behavior. Moderation analysis Hierarchical regression analysis was employed to assess the moderation effect of safety climate

on the relationship between PIU and safety behavior and the results are presented in Table 4. In the basic model, both PIU and safety climate had a significant effect on safety behavior. In the interaction model, the interaction term also had a significant effect on safety behavior. Accordingly, the main hypothesis of the study was supported so that safety climate moderated the effect of PIU on safety behavior. The f2 index was calculated to determine the size of moderation effect. The value of this index was 0.027 which demonstrates a small effect size. Fig 2. The measurement model. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279767.g002 PLOS ONE Problematic internet use and safety behavior PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279767 December 30, 2022 6 / 13