Challenge or Hindrance? The Moderating Role of Stress Appraisals in Technostress
Year: 2019
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: With ICTs becoming more pervasive in the workplace, it is becoming increasingly important\nto understand the stress outcomes experienced by employees when working with these\ntechnologies. The term technostress has been coined to understand this experience. However,\nthe mechanisms through which employees experience technostress remains a murky affair. In\nthis paper, we incorporate the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (TSMC) into the\nrelationship between technodemands and technostress. Specifically, we hypothesise that\ntechnodemands will have a positive relationship with technostress and the ICT user’s\nappraisal of technodemands moderate the relationship between technodemands and\ntechnostress. We propose that a challenge appraisal has a buffering effect, while a hindrance\nappraisal has an enhancing effect on the technostress experienced by an ICT user. Three\ntechnodemands were selected in the study: quantitative demands, mental demands and role\nambiguity. Data was collected from 188 participants who worked with ICTs to some extent in\ntheir jobs. Correlation and moderation analysis was used to test our hypotheses. Quantitative\ndemands and role ambiguity were found to have a significant positive relationship with\ntechnostress. Moderate evidence was found to support the moderating roles of stress\nappraisals in the relationship between technodemands and technostress, particularly in the\ncase of hindrance appraisals. Moderate support was found for an enhancing effect present\nwhen a hindrance appraisal is high for quantitative and mental demands, and for a buffering\neffect when a challenge appraisal is high for mental demands. Results will be discussed.
Author: C.J. Rath-Cullimore
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2976617984