Negative Consequences of Using Social Networks at the Workplace from the Point of View of the Sports and Youth Departments Staff

Background. Nowadays, employees' use of social networks at the workplace is increasing, which creates opportunities and challenges. Objectives. The current study aimed at investigating the negative consequences of the use of social networks at the workplace from the viewpoint of the employees of the sports and youth departments. Methods. The current descriptive survey was conducted on Golestan Province Sports and Youth Department consisted of 220 employees as the population. The sample was the randomly selected 141 employees based on the Cochran formula. The study employed some questionnaires to collect data, using social networks at the workplace by Barker et al., Job inattention by Zwarun & Hall, lack of time management by Landers & Callan, and ostracism of Chung & Kim. To analyze the data and identify the effects of research variables, structural equation modeling was used with the PLS software. Results. The obtained results showed that the application of social networks at the workplace had a positive and significant effect on job inattention (β = 0.42, t = 9.33). The effect of using social networks at the workplace on the lack of time management of staff was also positive and significant (β = 0.33, t = 12.94). Finally, the positive and significant effects of using social networks at the workplace was confirmed on the ostracism (β = 0.84, t = 66.98). Conclusion. According to the results of the current study, it can be concluded that the application of social networks at the workplace can have negative consequences. It is recommended that specific rules be employed regarding the use of social networks in the organizational environment of sports and youth departments.