Could Military Commanders' Good Leadership Influence Subordinates' Smartphone Over-dependence? A Serial Mediation Analysis

Owing to the ubiquitous use of smartphones by soldiers, military researchers have an increasing interest in potentially problematic side effects such as smartphone overdependence. This raises a question regarding the psychological mechanisms underlying the potentially self-damaging use of smartphones. Here, we address this question by analyzing how heterogeneity in commander's good leadership explains subordinate soldiers' differences in self-control and smartphone use. Specifically, we found that subordinate soldiers who thought their commander's leadership was good were self-regulated, less dependent on smartphones, less stressed, and finally had good mental health. This result indicates that commander's good leadership can be used to estimate whether subordinate soldiers exert control over their impulses and use their smartphones properly. Thus, the current findings help to identify external factors that lead to a better understanding of problematic smartphone use and can potentially help to design appropriate preventive mechanisms or interventions that target commander's good leadership.