Techno-Eustress: The Impact of Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use on the Perception of Work-Related Stressors

An extensive body of literature elaborates on the negative side of technostress. However, appraising stressors as challenges rather than as threats evidently leads to positive perceptions of stress, namely eustress. We derive from the person-environment fit model that the higher the acceptance of information and communication technologies is, the higher is the perception of eustress. As perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are proven antecedents of technology acceptance, we study how these two technology beliefs affect the perception of challenge stressors and how the challenge stressors influence the psychological response in terms of perceived eustress. We collected data from 168 employees in a web-based survey and used structural equation modeling. The results support our propositions and confirm that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are significant determinants of work-related challenge stressors enhancing the perception of eustress

Simply InGEN(E)ious! How Creative DNA Modeling Can Enrich Classic Hands-On Experimentation

Innovative 21st-century methods for teaching biology should provide both content knowledge and diverse scientific competencies. The Curriculum Guidelines of the American Society for Microbiology highlight the importance of developing scientific thinking skills, which include the abilities to formulate hypotheses, to communicate fundamental concepts effectively, and to analyze and interpret experimental results. Additionally, contemporary science education should enhance creativity and collaboration as key student assets in its bid to overcome negative perceptions and learning difficulties. In recent years, the expanding movement for so-called “STEAM” approaches (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) has increased in STEM curricula. The movement seeks to integrate the arts into science classes to transfer enthusiasm, support individual self-sufficiency, and encourage creative solutions. To meet all these demands, we developed an inquiry-based approach that actively engages students in hands- and minds-on activities on the topic of “decoding the DNA structure” in an outreach laboratory. Since teaching abstract molecular phenomena is a challenge in biology classes, we combine classical experimental tasks (DNA isolation, gel electrophoresis) with creative modeling. The experiments are linked by the modeling phase: immersed in the story of the discovery of the DNA structure, our participants independently construct a DNA model from a box filled with inexpensive craft supplies (e.g., glue, straws, pipe cleaners, beads). After initial pilot testing, the implementation of our approach clearly produced short- and mid-term learning effects among the students, providing a successful example of a STEAM-based approach in a laboratory setting

You Perceive What You Believe: The Impact of Psychological Beliefs on Perceived Technostress

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, we develop a new approach for explaining differences in the perceived level of technostress between individuals. We propose that psychological beliefs have an impact on the level of perceived technostress. In a web-based survey (N=159) we collected data on perceived technostress and two essential beliefs, namely locus of control and self-efficacy, to test our proposition. The results confirm that perceived technostress is significantly dependent on the individual’s beliefs. In particular, the higher the sense of self-efficacy of an individual is, the lower is the level of perceived technostress. Similarly, individuals with an internal locus of control are less prone to technostress than individuals with an external locus of control

On the Role of Envy in the Technostress Process in the Context of Social Media Use

Envy and stress are two terms, which are usually associated with the “dark side of technology”. However, both concepts also contain a “bright” side, benign envy and eustress, which are associated with an individual’s well-being. This work uncovers the relationship between envy and technostress in the context of social media use. The study is based on a sequential mixed-methods research design including qualitative interviews and a subsequent quantitative online survey. The results reveal that while benign envy is associated with the appraisal of social media as challenge stressors, malicious envy is related to the appraisal of social media as hindrance stressors. Challenge stressors lead to challenge coping responses inducing perceived eustress. Hindrance stressors result in hindrance coping responses inducing distress. Therefore, envy is found to be a significant determinant and cause for whether eustress or distress is perceived when using social media

Disentangling Technostress in Social Streaming Services: The Impact of Perceived Eustress and Distress on User Participation and Engagement

Technostress resulting from the use of social media and social streaming services is usually associated with negative consequences, such as lower user participation and engagement. This paper, however, finds evidence that the perception of stress in association with the use of social streaming services also positively impacts user participation and engagement by disentangling the concept of stress into eustress and distress. Data from 147 social streaming services users were collected and analyzed with structural equation modeling. The results confirm that perceived eustress positively affects user participation and engagement, while perceived distress decreases user participation and engagement. Separating the concept of user participation and engagement into benign and malicious user participation and engagement reveals that eustress is positively related to benign user participation and engagement, whereas perceived distress is positively associated with malicious user participation and engagement

Do sojourn effects on personality trait changes last? A five-year longitudinal study

Richter J, Zimmermann J, Neyer FJ, Kandler C. Do sojourn effects on personality trait changes last? A five-year longitudinal study. European Journal of Personality. 2020;35(3):358-382.This study examined sojourners’ long-term personality trait changes over five years, extending previous research on immediate sojourn effects. A sample of German students (N = 1,095) was surveyed thrice (T1-T3) over the course of an academic year. Sojourners (n = 498) lived abroad shortly after T1 for one or two semesters, stayers (n = 597) remained in their home country. Five years after T1, we surveyed the same participants (n = 441, 40.3%) again (T4). Beyond substantial selection effects, latent neighbor-change models revealed that small differences between sojourners’ and stayers’ openness, agreeableness, and neuroticism changes occurred early after sojourn-induced contextual change. Model estimates suggested sustained sojourn effects on openness and neuroticism changes thereafter, and a reversed effect on agreeableness change after return. Due to reduced power and low accuracy at T4, these estimates were not statistically significant. Based on model comparison analyses, however, we could rule out reversed effects for openness and accentuated effects for agreeableness and neuroticism as least likely. Moreover, separating short-term and long-term sojourners revealed no substantial differences, but recurring sojourn experiences tended to play a role in sustaining differences. We discuss implications for future studies on patterns of sojourn effects on personality trait changes

A long-term unit commitment problem with hydrothermal coordination for economic and emission control in large-scale electricity systems

The paper describes a long-term scheduling problem for thermal power plants and energy storages. In addition, renewable energy sources are integrated by considering the residual demand. Besides the classical minimization of the production costs, emission-related costs are taken into account. Thereby, emission costs are determined by market prices for CO2 emission certificates (i.e., using the EU emissions trading system). For the proposed unit commitment problem with hydrothermal coordination for economic and emission control, an enhanced mixed-integer linear programming model is presented. Moreover, a new heuristic approach is developed, which consists of two solution stages. The heuristic first performs an isolated dispatching of thermal plants. Then, a re-optimization stage is included in order to embed activities of energy storages into the final solution schedule. The considered approach is able to find outstanding schedules for benchmark instances with a planning horizon of up to one year. Furthermore, promising results are also obtained for large-scale real-world electricity systems. For the German electricity market, the relationship of CO2 certificate prices and the optimal thermal dispatch is illustrated by a comprehensive sensitivity analysis

Urteilsbildung und Professionalisierung in der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe

Urteilsbildung in der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe geht nicht lediglich Entscheidungen über eine Intervention voran – vielmehr ist die Urteilsbildung der Fachkräfte in die Interaktionspraxen mit den Adressat:innen eingelagert. Sie wird in diesem Beitrag als Aspekt der konstituierenden Rahmung verstanden. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden Rahmungen der Urteilsbildung zur Situation von Kindern, Jugendlichen, Eltern und Pflegeeltern rekonstruiert. Dies geschieht auf der Grundlage von Gruppendiskussionen mit Sozialarbeiter:innen, die im Allgemeinen Sozialen Dienst, in therapeutischen Jugendwohngruppen und in der Pflegekinderhilfe arbeiten. Am empirischen Material lassen sich konstituierende Rahmungen als Praxen fachlichen Fallverstehens von solchen Rahmungen der Urteilsbildung unterscheiden, die Willkür beinhalten und zur Degradierung der Person führen. (DIPF/Orig.

Muslimische Jugend als Milieu? Perspektiven einer Rekonstruktion

Gehören Jugendliche, deren Eltern oder Großeltern aus islamisch geprägten Ländern nach Deutschland migriert sind, muslimischen Milieus an? Im Beitrag wird ausgehend von der Jugend- und Migrationsforschung der Frage nachgegangen, wie sich Milieuzusammenhänge verstehen lassen. Zunächst geht es um die Diskussionslinien und Forschungsfragen hinsichtlich muslimischer Milieus (1). Anschließend wird ein Verständnis von Milieu als Zusammenhang strukturidentischer Erfahrungsbildung im Rahmen der Dokumentarischen Methode skizziert (2). Anhand von Ergebnissen aus einer Interviewstudie werden drei Erfahrungsräume als Jugendmilieus beschrieben (3), in denen Religion und Kultur jedoch keine primären Rahmen bilden (4).Do young people whose parents and grandparents immigrated to Germany from Islamic countries belong to Muslim milieus? Starting from youth and migration studies, the article examines how milieu contexts can be conceived. At first it focuses lines of arguments and research questions referring to Muslim milieus (1). In the framework of the Documentary Method, a concept of milieu in terms of interrelated, emerging experiences with an identical structure is outlined (2). Subsequently three spaces of experience are being elaborated as youth milieus, drawing on findings from an interview study (3). For these three figures, religion and culture do not constitute primary frames (4)