COPING WITH DISCREPANT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EVENTS: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Coping theory has been used to explain and predict the behaviors of users facing discrepant information technology (IT) events, i.e., unexpected, negative events that occur due to problems and difficulties when using such technology. However, researchers have examined coping by using a vast array of conceptualizations, discrepant IT events, coping strategies, and behaviors, which have led to considerable heterogeneity in the existing literature. Therefore, the present paper demonstrates the results of a comprehensive literature review, identifying and analyzing 27 relevant investigations. The present literature review contributes to the literature by identify-ing six theoretical implications: (1) coping literature can subdivided into research streams on technostress, IT adoption and usage, and IT security, (2) the literature disagrees about the ante-cedents of coping strategies, (3) coping strategies are heterogeneous, (4) coping strategies show interdependences, (5) coping strategies show paradoxical effects, and (6) development of a framework of coping with discrepant IT events. In addition, the paper proposes new directions for future coping research for all three identified research streams

Improving the IS Literature Rigor on Habit by Looking Through the Theoretical Lens of the Dual-Process Theory

Information system (IS) usage has been extensively researched for decades. These theories are built upon the assumption that human decisions are based only on rationality. However, this notion was challenged in more recent years, as Kahneman (2003) demonstrates that human decisions are not only based on rationality but also on intuition. Kahneman’s dual-process theory suggests that cognitive processes underlying social judgments and behavior can be divided into two different systems (system one and system two) depending on whether they operate reflectively or intuitively. Yet, prior IS usage literature examines the construct of habit, which under the evaluation of the dual-process theory is formed in the intuitive system. However, within the research stream of habit, the dual-process theory has not been rigorously considered. Hence, most of the results and implications of habit research are driven by the theoretical assumption of the reflective theories concentrating only on the reflective system and neglect that habit is an unconscious construct formed in the intuitive system. To shed light on IS habit and to improve IS literature rigor on habit, the present research idea aims to analyze IS habit literature to identify whether it has been treated and measured as intuitive or reflective construct

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

IT-Related Time Poverty: Identifying Antecedents and Consequences of a Lack of Time Related to IT Use

Time poverty is the subjective perception of inadequate freely disposable time, which results in negative consequences for individuals. Although information systems (IS) research knows that information technology (IT) use change time perception, research is incomplete in explaining IT-related antecedents and consequences of time poverty. Because time is a scarce resource, individuals, organizations, and society have a responsibility to manage time to protect individuals from adverse consequences. We conduct a structured literature review to identify indications of how IT use influences time poverty and its adverse consequences. We identified 16 papers, which we analyzed with respect to different components of IT use and possible consequences of time poverty. Based on the data, we develop an overview of the antecedents and consequences of IT-related time poverty and a research agenda. We contribute to the research by introducing IT-related time poverty as a new IS construct and providing an in-depth research agenda

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

Breaking Out of the Social Media Prison: Identifying Strategies to Disrupt the IT- Mediated State-Tracking Habit

In recent times, the negative consequences of social network sites (SNS) including social overload, loss of self-control and technology addiction caused problematic usage behavior. Combined with the new phenomenon of IT-mediated state-tracking, the habit of constantly checking for new updates has a rising impact in terms of information technology (IT) usage on the society. Since there is a lack of theoretical insights on how to break checking habits, strategies have been developed to disrupt the user’s habit of compulsive and excessive usage. To provide insights on this topic, a literature review has been conceived which invests Information System (IS) journals and IS conferences. The results show six disruption strategies. The paper’s findings contribute conceptually to the existing IT literature including an illustration from which users can derive important and useful guides to disrupt their IT-mediated state- tracking habits

How do Users Cope with Technostress over Time? A Longitudinal Study Investigating the Intra-individual Effects of Technostress Mitigation

Users of Information Technology (IT) perceive the challenge of IT-related stress, called technostress. To mitigate the challenge of technostress, users aim to cope by performing behavioral, cognitional, and perceptual efforts. However, past research about coping and technostress neglects the temporal nature of the effect of technostress and coping already discussed in the psychological literature. Even though coping theory was initially construed as being dynamic and transactional in nature, most models of coping in the technostress context have been unidirectional and have treated coping as a static outcome. The following example demonstrates the temporal relationship between technostress and coping — users who suffered from technostress in the past, cope with it currently in order to reduce it in the future. Consequently, IS research has only little understanding of the changing of technostress and the mitigation effect of coping over time. Therefore, the present research-in-progress paper aims to investigate the effect of coping on technostress over time. It thereby follows recent research calls (e.g., Pirkkalainen et al. 2019; Stich et al. 2019), all calling for an investigation of technostress and coping over time using a longitudinal research design. The research-in-progress paper draws on a Latent Growth Modeling (LGM) approach to investigate the trajectory of coping as well as technostress with being able to reveal their changing relationship over time. The results will give insight into the change over time of technostress and coping within individuals

Enterprise resource planning systems induced stress: a comparative empirical analysis with young and elderly SAP users

In this research study we investigate whether and how ERP system characteris-tics cause its users to experience stress. In order to do so, we analyze a research model explaining enterprise resource planning systems induced stress with an empirical study in two organizations (N=227). The results reveal that usefulness, complexity, reliability, and pace of change are important ERP system characteris-tics leading to the perception of stressors and exhaustion. Furthermore, our com-parative empirical analysis with young and elderly ERP users indicate that the el-derly ones perceive ERP characteristics more negatively and are more stressed and exhausted than the younger users

The Negative Side Of ICT-Enabled Communication: The Case Of Social Interaction Overload In Online Social Networks

This research aims to explain the negative side of ICT-enabled communications. Therefore, the perception of users that social interactions on online social networks (OSN) are threatening is suggested as a new variable called social interaction overload. The paper theorizes that individual, OSN-specific, and OSN-specific communication characteristics manifest the extent to which social interaction overload is perceived and how users response to it in a psychological and behavioral manner. Results of an empirical survey with 246 OSN users validate the assumed effects, so that we identify age, number of friends, and communication content as contribution factors of social interaction overload, which in turn has a direct effect on the two outcome variables satisfaction and continuous usage intention. Moreover, results reveal that social interaction overload has higher effects on OSN users’ satisfaction than perceived usefulness or perceived enjoyment

The Shady Side Of Facebook: The Influence Of Perceived Information And Network Characteristics On The Attitude Towards Information Overload

This research paper analyzes the impact of information and network characteristics on the affective, cognitive, and behavioral attitude towards information overload (IO) on Facebook. By using an information overload model and the data of 300 active Facebook users it can be shown that the various categories of attitude are influenced by different factors. The level of determination of the behavioral attitude towards IO is lower than the level of determination of the affective and cognitive attitude towards IO. The identified antecedents of IO explain up to 36 per cent of the variance of IO. Results indicate that affective and cognitive attitude towards IO are more influenced by these antecedents as the behavioral attitude towards IO. Furthermore, results reveal that the amount of information an individual receives is the major predictor of all three dimensions of attitude. Several implications for adoption research are discussed