How Are Techno-Stressors Associated with Mental Health and Work Outcomes? A Systematic Review of Occupational Exposure to Information and Communication Technologies within the Technostress Model

The technostress model has introduced different factors to consider when assessing how information and communication technologies impact individuals in different work settings. This systematic review gathers evidence regarding associations between occupational exposure to technostress and health or work outcomes. In addition, we highlight typical methodological constraints of the technostress model. We conducted electronic literature searches in June 2020 (PubMed, PubMed Central, Web of Science, Scopus, PsycInfo, PsycArticles) and independently screened 321 articles. We report on 21 articles meeting eligibility criteria (working population, technostress exposure, health or work outcome, quantitative design). The most frequently examined techno-stressors, i.e., factors of technostress, were techno-overload and techno-invasion. Techno-stressors were consistently associated with adverse health and work outcomes, apart from a positive impact on work engagement. However, studies may be subject to considerable conceptual overlap between exposure and outcome measures. Future technostress research would benefit from reducing heterogeneity in technostress measures, assessing their external validity and focussing on specific techno-stressors

UNDERSTANDING THE INFLUENCE OF TECHNOSTRESS ON WORKERS’ JOB SATISFACTION IN GIG-ECONOMY: AN EXPLORATORY INVESTIGATION

Gig-economy is a recent concept that has been attracting growing attention. Online labour markets (OLMs) are a prominent part of gig-economy and require completion of tasks digitally through platforms such as MTurk and Upwork. The World Bank estimated the total market size of OLMs to be $4.8 billion in 2016 which is expected to increase up to$25 billion in 2020. Despite the rapid growth of OLMs, the implications of workers’ wellbeing in such markets are not well understood and highly debated. A report commissioned by EU-OSHA has identified psycho-social risks associated with the work in OLMs. The highly competitive and fast-paced nature of OLMs necessitates workers to multitask and perform intense technology-enabled work which may lead to technostress. This paper investigates workers’ job satisfaction in OLMs using technostress and job characteristic theories with the aim of providing an in-depth understanding of the experiences and perceptions of workers. Our research model has both theoretical and practical implications which will help to diagnose potential problems and improve the wellbeing of workers by formulating strategies for OLMs and workers. The paper presents the results of a pilot study in a popular OLM using structural equation modelling

Remote Working Burnout: Empirical Study from TOE and Technostress Model

Work stress and burnout negatively impact the individual and companies. Remote working exacerbates these issues due to the lack of company support and social interactions. Yet, research on identifying factors contributing to stress and burnout in remote workspaces and differentiating the components of stress and burnout in this context is limited. This work presents and empirically evaluates a conceptual framework, based on the Technology – Organization – Environment framework and the technostress theory, which aims to address these gaps. In particular, the model proposed here distinguishes between technostress, work stress, and burnout. Future work to examine the model will use a survey instrument for data gathering, as well as confirmatory factor analysis and partial least squares for analysis

Teleworking in the Covid-19 Pandemic

Teleworkers who live and work in the same space are vulnerable to conflicts between personal life and work (LWC). The Covid-19 lockdowns increased the intensity and risk of LWC and changed telework conditions, confronting teleworkers with difficult personal situations and often ill-equipped telework environments. To develop a better understanding of the effects of different LWC dimensions (e.g., time, strain, behavior) on work exhaustion, job satisfaction, routine and innovative job performance and the role of the IT telework environment among teleworkers in the Covid-19 pandemic, a research model based on a sample of 249 teleworkers was developed and validated. The findings show that LWC has adverse effects on job outcomes and that the IT telework environment moderates these effects. The study contributes to the telework and role conflict literature by revealing the essential role of the IT telework environment and by differentiating between routine and innovative job performance among teleworkers

Sources and consequences of teachers’ stress during the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has had severe and unprecedented consequences in multiple facets of education. Schools, teachers, students and their families were affected and the negative impacts will last for years. The aim of this paper is to identify and explain the sources and consequences of teachers’ job stress and burnout during the pandemic as well as job and life satisfaction. Three sources of stress are emphasised: time allocation changes and workload; the behaviour of students; and the technostress. The empirical research is based on an original online survey applied to middle and high school teachers in Portugal . Information from four time references is collected: before pandemic; first school closure in 2020 (16th Mar – 16th Sep); second school in 2021 (15th Jan – 5th Apr)); at the time of the survey (June-July 2021) The data obtained include characteristics and changes about: teachers and their households; job satisfaction, stress and burnout; life satisfaction; working time and teaching roles; work-life balance; teachings goals, methods, and outcomes; work stressors; working conditions for telework; expectations for teaching year 2021/2020 about job and teaching methods. The results show that teachers’ job stress increased during pandemic and the behaviour and performance of students is it main driver. The difficulties to conciliate work time and personal time are also predictors of teachers’ job stress. Signs of increasing burnout exist.A pandemia da covid-19 tem tido consequências graves e sem precedentes em múltiplas facetas da educação. Professores, estudantes, escolas e famílias foram afetados, e os impactos da pandemia irão repercutir-se também no futuro. O objetivo desta investigação é identificar e explicar as fontes e as consequências do stress e do burnout associados ao trabalho dos professores durante a pandemia, bem como a sua satisfação no trabalho e em relação à vida. Três fontes de stress são consideradas: as mudanças na organização, nos conteúdos e na quantidade de trabalho; o comportamento e desempenho dos estudantes; e o tecnostress. A investigação empírica baseia-se num inquérito original online aplicado aos professores do ensino público (ISCED 2 e 3) em Portugal . São recolhidas informações referentes a quatro períodos: antes da pandemia; no primeiro período de encerramento das escolas em 2020 (16 de março-16 de setembro); no segundo encerramento das escola em 2021 (15 de janeiro-5 de abril); no período do inquérito (junho-julho 2021). Os dados recolhidos incluem características e mudanças sobre: os professores e suas famílias; a satisfação no trabalho, o stress e o burnout; a satisfação em relação à vida; o tempo de trabalho e as funções docentes; o equilíbrio entre trabalho e vida pessoal; os objetivos, métodos e resultados do ensino; o stress no trabalho; as condições para realização do ensino remoto; as expectativas para o ano letivo 2021-22. Os resultados mostram que o stress no trabalho dos professores aumentou durante a pandemia, sendo o comportamento e desempenho dos estudantes um fator explicativo relevante. As dificuldades em conciliar o tempo de trabalho e o tempo pessoal são também fatores preditores do stress no trabalho dos professores. Existem ainda sinais de burnout crescente.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A study into telework: its advantages, disadvantages, and future business practices

Telework and the promise of its future adoption has been heralded ever since its coining in the 1970’s, but the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought it into the spotlight and forced its widespread adoption, but its implementation can be described as erroneous as there isn't a clear guiding tool on how to do so. It was then, this dissertation’s goal to evaluate the current state of teleworking practices in Portugal and establish a set of principles that could guide managers in the evaluation of their teleworking practices and aid them in the implemen- tation of new ones. Based on a review of both academic and professional literature, an online survey was distributed to Portuguese workers having yielded 135 valid responses from tele- workers. The conducted research limitations were related to survey length constraints and lim- ited reach into private and public companies. Analysis of the responses demonstrated that there is a clear perceived productivity increase among those who engage in telework. Work reorganization, a recurrent concern for managers, shows no global trend but is shown to have clear links to teamwork. The proposed set of principles yielded moderately positive result of 4.9 out of a possible 7, indicating that Portuguese teleworkers view their companies as having adapted to this form of working in a sufficiently good manner. From the results, it can clearly be stated that telework increases productivity, and bolsters work and family balance. Additionally, attention must be paid to the effects telework has on mental health and the mitigation role of software. To build upon the results of the present dissertation, post-pandemic application of the devel- oped set of principles is warranted as well as hard data gathering from within companies and performance indicators analysed.O teletrabalho e as promessas da sua adoção futura têm sido anunciadas desde o seu cunho na década de 70, mas o surto da pandemia COVID-19 fez os holofotes incidir sobre o assunto e veio forçar a sua adoção generalizada, podendo esta ser descrita como errónea, muito devido ao facto da não existência de uma ferramenta guia. Foi, assim, o objetivo da presente disser- tação avaliar o estado das práticas de teletrabalho em Portugal e estabelecer um conjunto de princípios que pudessem guiar as empresas na avaliação das suas práticas de teletrabalho, e na implementação de novas medidas. Com base na revisão da literatura académica e profis- sional, um questionário foi distribuído junto de trabalhadores portugueses, tendo sido obtidas 135 respostas válidas de teletrabalhadores. As limitações da investigação conduzida tiveram que ver com a extensão do questionário e com o acesso a empresas, tanto públicas com pri- vadas. A análise das respostas demonstrou um claro aumento da produtividade percecionada em teletrabalhadores. A reorganização do trabalho, grande preocupação de gestores, não mostra nenhuma tendência, ainda assim existem claras ligações com o trabalho em equipe. O conjunto de princípios obteve 4.9 de 7 pontos possíveis, indicando que os teletrabalhadores consideram que as suas empresas adotaram o teletrabalho suficientemente bem. Dos resultados obtidos, pode-se claramente afirmar que o teletrabalho aumenta a produtivi- dade e potencia o equilíbrio entre o trabalho e a família. Deve ainda, ser prestada atenção ao efeito que o teletrabalho tem sobre a saúde mental e os efeitos mitigadores do Software. Por forma a construir sobre os resultados desta dissertação, uma aplicação pós-pandemia do conjunto de princípios deve ser conduzida bem como recolha de dados dentro das empresas bem como analise de indicadores de performance

A Dark Side of Telework: A Social Comparison-Based Study from the Perspective of Office Workers

Telework became a necessary work arrangement during the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, practical evidence even before the pandemic also suggests that telework can adversely affect teleworkers’ colleagues working in the office. Those regular office workers may experience negative emotions such as envy which, in turn, can impact work performance and turnover intention. In order to assess the adverse effects of telework on regular office workers, the study applies social comparison theory and suggests telework disparity as a new theoretical concept. From the perspective of regular office workers, perceived telework disparity is the extent to which they compare their office working situation with their colleagues’ teleworking situation and conclude that their teleworking colleagues are slightly better off than themselves. Based on social comparison theory, a model of how perceived disparity associated with telework causes negative emotions and adverse behaviors among regular office workers was developed. The data were collected in one organization with telework arrangements (N = 269). The results show that perceived telework disparity from the perspective of regular office workers increases their feelings of envy toward teleworkers and their job dissatisfaction, which is associated with higher turnover intentions and worse job performance. This study contributes to telework research by revealing a dark side of telework by conceptualizing telework disparity and its negative consequences for employees and organizations. For practice, the paper recommends making telework practices and policies as transparent as possible to realize the maximum benefits of telework

Wellbeing Costs of Technology Use during Covid-19 Remote Working: An Investigation Using the Italian Translation of the Technostress Creators Scale

During the first months of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has affected several countries all over the world, including Italy. To prevent the spread of the virus, governments instructed employers and self-employed workers to close their offices and work from home. Thus, the use of remote working increased during the pandemic and is expected to maintain high levels of application even after the emergency. Despite its benefits for both organizations and workers, remote working entails negative consequences, such as technostress. The present study had a double aim: to test the psychometric characteristics of the Italian translation of the brief version of the technostress creators scale and to apply the scale to investigate technostress during the Covid-19 emergency. The research involved 878 participants for the first study and 749 participants for the second one; they completed a self-report online questionnaire. Results confirmed the three-factor structure of the Italian technostress creators scale and highlighted positive relationships between workload, techno-stressors, work–family conflict and behavioural stress. The role of remote working conditions has been analysed as well. The study provided a useful tool for the investigation of technostress in the Italian context. Moreover, it provided indications for practice in the field of remote working and workers’ wellbein