The Impact of Technostress on Role Stress and Productivity

TLDR

ICTs can generate stress in users through various mechanisms, and the paper identifies factors that create technostress. The study investigates how technostress affects role stress and individual productivity, tests three hypotheses about their relationships, and proposes a diagnostic tool. Using structural equation modeling on survey data from 223 ICT‑using organizations, the authors test the hypotheses and develop the diagnostic tool. Results support the hypotheses: technostress negatively relates to productivity, positively to role stress, and role stress also negatively relates to productivity, adding new dimensions of technostress and highlighting the need to manage ICT‑induced stress.

Abstract

Based on empirical survey data, this paper uses concepts from sociotechnical theory and role theory to explore the effects of stress created by information and computer technology (ICT)—that is, "technostress"—on role stress and on individual productivity. We first explain different ways in which ICTs can create stress in users and identify factors that create technostress. We next propose three hypotheses: (1) technostress is inversely related to individual productivity, (2) role stress is inversely related to individual productivity, and (3) technostress is directly related to role stress. We then use structural equation modeling on survey data from ICT users in 223 organizations to test the hypotheses. The results show support for them. Theoretically, the paper contributes in three ways. First, the different dimensions of technostress identified here add to existing concepts on stress experienced by individuals in organizations. Second, by showing that technostress inversely affects productivity, the paper reinforces that failure to manage the effects of ICT-induced stress can offset expected increases in productivity. Third, validation of the positive relationship between technostress and role stress adds a new conceptual thread to literature analyzing the relationship between technology and organizational roles and structure. In the practical domain, the paper proposes a diagnostic tool to evaluate the extent to which technostress is present in an organization and suggests that the adverse effects of technostress can be partly countered by strategies that reduce role conflict and role overload.