Coping with the Dynamic Process of Technostress, Appraisal and Adaptation

Despite its importance, the process of technostress remains significantly unstudied in MIS research. Here we reviewthe relevant literature on technostress and synthesize the coping model of user adaptation (Beaudry andPinsonneault, 2005) with transaction based models of technostress to align these theories with referent models ofstress, appraisal and adaptation. We posit that technostress should be studied as a dynamic, unfolding process, not asan assumed, static black box. We present a dynamic process model of technostress as it was intended by Caro andSethi (1985), which reconciles technostress with more than 60 years of stress research

A Bibliometric Review of Technostress: Historical Roots, Evolution and Central Publications of a Growing Research Field

While previous research has provided critical insights into the different perspectives, methods, and theories on technostress, there is currently no bibliometric review available that clarifies the evolution and structure of the field. We use three bibliometric methods to assess the body of 252 technostress publications until 2019: reference publication year spectroscopy, co-word analysis, and co-citation analysis. In doing so, we analyze how the technostress field has evolved over time, clarify the interconnected concepts forming the discourse and identify the most influential works

How do successful coping change appraisal and user responses?

Technostress research asserts that the use of information systems (IS) can be challenging or hindering. Previous literature has mostly focused on the challenge or hindrance subprocesses. However, research suggests that these subprocesses may interact with each other. Positive user responses can be derived from events that were originally perceived as hindering. The present research-in-progress paper focuses on this interaction. We investigate whether successful coping – the elimination of a stressful IS use situation – leads to positive user responses in the hindering subprocess. Therefore, we develop an online experiment, which emulates different IS use situations. A hindrance techno-stressor situation (HTS), a control situation without a techno-stressor (non-HTS), and one in which users can successfully cope with the hindrance techno-stressor (SC). The experiment allows us to analyze the interactions between the subprocesses. We expect to contribute to the literature on technostress and IS coping by focusing on the interaction between the two subprocesse

The Impact of Trust in Technology on the Appraisal of Technostress Creators in a Work-Related Context

Research in technostress examines how and why the use of information and communication technologies causes individuals to experience an imbalance between demands and the ability to meet them. In this paper, the impact of system-like trust and human-like trust on the appraisal of technostress creators in a work-related setting is examined. In order to test the propositions, data on trust, technostress creators, the perception of distress and eustress, and job satisfaction were collected in a web-based survey from 210 employees. Structural equation modeling was performed for data analysis. The results confirm that both, system-like trust and human-like trust, significantly affect the appraisal of technostress creators. In particular, the higher the trust in technology is, the less harmful technostress creators are perceived, which positively impacts job satisfaction

Design Blueprint for Stress-Sensitive Adaptive Enterprise Systems

Stress is a major problem in the human society, impairing the well-being, health, performance, and productivity of many people worldwide. Most notably, people increasingly experience stress during human-computer interactions because of the ubiquity of and permanent connection to information and communication technologies. This phenomenon is referred to as technostress. Enterprise systems, designed to improve the productivity of organizations, frequently contribute to this technostress and thereby counteract their objective. Based on theoretical foundations and input from exploratory interviews and focus group discussions, the paper presents a design blue-print for stress-sensitive adaptive enterprise systems (SSAESes). A major characteristic of SSAESes is that bio-signals (e.g., heart rate or skin conductance) are integrated as real-time stress measures, with the goal that systems automatically adapt to the users’ stress levels, thereby improving human-computer interactions. Various design interventions on the individual, technological, and organi- zational levels promise to directly affect stressors or moderate the impact of stressors on important negative effects (e.g., health or performance). However, designing and deploying SSAESes pose significant challenges with respect to technical feasibility, social and ethical accept- ability, as well as adoption and use. Considering these challenges, the paper proposes a 4-stage step-by-step implementation approach. With this Research Note on technostress in organizations, the authors seek to stimulate the discussion about a timely and important phenomenon, particularly from a design science research perspective

Techno(Stress) and Techno(Distress): Validation of a Specific TechnoStressors Index (TSI) Among Quebec Lawyers

The pervasive and ubiquitous characteristics of information technology has been associated to technostress. Current measures oftechnostress do not consider some recent issues of the stress generated by technology in the day-to-day work of lawyers. This paper presents the validation of a 25-item self-report scale (TechnoStressors-Index-TSI) for the study of technostress in lawyers’ professional context. Items were constructed through qualitative exploratory interviews (N=22) and adaptation of existing scales. The scale was tested (N=40) and retested (N=2027) among Quebec lawyers using EFA and CFA. This scale proposes a second order reflexive model of five dimensions to understand technostress. The scale validation among a large sample of professionals helped to fulfill the gap regarding specific techno-stressors to which lawyers are exposed and leading to technostress at work or other health outcomes, such as psychological distress. For further research, it needs to be validated with other professionals to confirm its relevance in different contexts

A longitudinal multilevel mediation model

This study seeks to explain the interplay between chronological age and technology-related strain through techno-stressors and coping strategy choices in organizational settings. Grounded in Lazarus´ stress theory, theories of cognitive aging, the life span theory of control and socioemotional selectivity theory, this study argues that even though older workers are more prone to techno-stressors, aging is connected to gaining coping skills, which in turn reduce technology-related strain over time. Understanding these processes enables modifying employees’ coping strategy choices and mitigating negative outcomes of technostress at the workplace. Longitudinal data from 1,216 employees over a time period of 8 months were used to perform multilevel mediation modeling. The findings reveal that age was negatively related to technology-related strain. The link between age and technology-related strain was explained through behavioral disengagement, which older workers used less than younger workers. Active coping and social coping did not act as mediators of this relationship across time points. These relationships were stable after controlling for dependency on technology

Towards a Better Comprehension of Adaptation to Information and Communication Technologies: A Multi-level Approach

Despite the variety of literature on ‘adaptation to technology’, the literature still witnesses a gap concerning the concept of adaptation especially about its multi-level nature. Recognizing the multilevel nature of IS adaptation, we rise the challenge of conducting an alternate template analysis of three cases of adaptation to IS in order to provide complementary explanations about the phenomenon. In order to expand the comprehension of the ‘adaptation’ concept, a multi-study dissertation model is adopted. The objective is to examine the adaptation concept on three different levels: the individual, the group level, and the organizational level. This thesis aims at 1) exploring the shaping of individual adaptive actions that knowledge workers engage towards technostress with a focus on the factors that influence their adaptation process; 2) examining the adaptive performance of a group facing an newlyimplemented technology based on the adaptive structuration theory (DeSanctis and Poole 1994) under which were puzzled the concepts of affordances (Leonardi 2011, Leonardi, Huysman et al. 2013) and the structure of usage (Burton-Jones and Straub Jr 2006, Burton-Jones and Gallivan 2007); 3) examining, through an organizational learning lens (Argyris and Schon 1978), the case of an organizational adaptation to environmental technological changes examined within a managerial cognition conceptual framework (Orlikowski and Gash 1994); (Bijker 1987, Bijker 1995). To answer the different research questions, the three studies adopt a qualitative approach falling within a critical realist perspective

Coping with Interruptions in Computer-Mediated Environments: The Role of Computer Self-Efficacy

Since technostress has been linked to tremendous productivity losses for U.S. organizations, this research-in-progress examines whether computer self-efficacy (CSE) can help individuals cope (i.e., deal) with such technological stressors as technology-mediated (T-M) interruptions (e.g., instant messages). Investigating the role of CSE in this context sheds light on the ways in which employees can maintain a positive well-being despite the presence of technological stressors. More specifically, we tried to understand the complex relationships between technology, stress, and information systems-related individual differences to provide businesses with an understanding of the conditions under which employees can work effectively. Drawing from the cognitive psychology and the technostress bodies of literature, we hypothesize that CSE moderates the link between the frequency with which such T-M interruptions as instant messages appear and stress. This paper proposes a laboratory experiment to test our model and concludes with an overview of its expected contributions