Connected at Sea: The Influence of the Internet and Online Communication on the Well-Being and Life Satisfaction of Cruise Ship Employees

Aleksandar Radic, Antonio Ariza-Montes, Felipe Hernández-Perlines and Gabriele Giorgi
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Aleksandar Radic: Independent Researcher, 20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia
Antonio Ariza-Montes: Management Department, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, 14004 Córdoba, Spain
Felipe Hernández-Perlines: Department of Business Administration, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 45071 Toledo, Spain
Gabriele Giorgi: Department of Human Science, European University of Rome, 00163 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: This study aims to elucidate the idiosyncratic effects of the Internet and online communication on the well-being and life satisfaction of cruise ship employees. Cross-sectional surveys and covariance-based structural equation modelling tools were used. In addition, univariate variance analysis was used to address the effects of socio-demographic variables (years of service on a cruise ship, working department on a cruise ship, gender, age, educational level and place of residency) on latent variables of the conceptual model. The conceptual model draws on existing theory and previous research and was empirically tested on a sample of cruise ship employee internet users. Result show that while being onboard a cruise ship, employees experience strong social pressure to be constantly available and they fear of missing out on important information and life events. Thus, relatedness to friends and family needs satisfaction is of paramount importance for cruise ship employees because they are fully aware that they are dispensable and replaceable to cruise ship companies, however to their friends and family, they are indispensable and unique. Moreover, employees who engage in other tasks/activities while taking part in online communication with friends and family exhibit reduced performance, which leads to poor interaction and social dissatisfaction. Lastly, employees experiencing under-reciprocating exchanges show significant negative effects on their well-being. Overall, the results provided several important theoretical and practical implications relevant to cruise tourism and human resource management.

Keywords: online communication; well-being; life satisfaction; cruise ship employees; social support; social pressure; fear of missing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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