Smartphone Use and Academic Performance: a Literature Review

Simon Amez and Stijn Baert

Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium from Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Abstract: We present the first systematic review of the scientific literature on smartphone use and academic success. We synthesise the theoretical mechanisms, empirical approaches, and empirical findings described in the multidisciplinary literature to date. Our analysis of the literature reveals a predominance of empirical results supporting a negative association between students’ frequency of smartphone use and their academic success. However, the strength of this association is heterogeneous by (a) the method of data gathering, (b) the measures of academic performance used in the analysis, and (c) the measures of smartphone use adopted. The main limitation identified in the literature is that the reported associations cannot be given a causal interpretation. Based on the reviewed findings and limitations, directions for further research are discussed.

Keywords: Smartphone use; smartphone addiction; academic performance; literature review; causality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2019-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Smartphone Use and Academic Performance: A Literature Review (2019)
Working Paper: Smartphone Use and Academic Performance: a Literature Review (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rug:rugwps:19/982

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