Formation and Mitigation of Technostress in the Personal Use of IT

Abstract

Understanding information technology (IT) use is vital for the information systems (IS) discipline due to its substantial positive and negative consequences. In recent years, IT use for personal purposes has grown rapidly. Although personal use is voluntary and can often reflect fun, technostress is a common negative consequence of such use. When left unaddressed, technostress can cause serious harm to IT users. However, prior research has not explained how technostress forms over time or how its mitigation takes place in a personal—rather than organizational—environment. To address these research gaps, we conducted a qualitative study with narrative interviews of IT users who had experienced technostress. This study contributes to (1) the technostress literature by unpacking states in which technostress forms and can be mitigated and (2) the IT affordance literature by explaining the role of affordances and their actualizations in technostress as well as introducing the new concept of actualization cost. In terms of practice, our findings help individuals and societies identify the development of technostress, understand the activities required for its mitigation, and recognize mitigation barriers.

How technostress and self-control of social networking sites affect academic achievement and wellbeing

“…, 2020) have been examined in the technostress literature to date. Yet, recent interpretivist research demonstrates how difficult it is for users to mitigate technostress as considerable self-control is required (Salo et al. , 2021).…”

“…Emerging research also reveals that the formation of stress associated with using personal IT systems such as SNS occurs at different rates. For instance, the invasion technostressor builds up gradually, while a technostressor such as complexity emerges in a more punctuated manner (Salo et al, 2021). Technostress also has implications on intentions to continue using SNS.…”

“…Coping mechanisms such as distractions (Tarafdar et al, 2020), distancing from IT (Pirkkalainen et al, 2019), mindfulness (Pfl€ ugner et al, 2021) and instrumental and emotional support (Weinert et al, 2020) have been examined in the technostress literature to date. Yet, recent interpretivist research demonstrates how difficult it is for users to mitigate technostress as considerable self-control is required (Salo et al, 2021). Indeed, a proactive personality is important for successful coping (Tiwari, 2020).…”

Development of “LvL UP”, a smartphone-based, conversational agent-delivered holistic lifestyle intervention for the prevention of non-communicable diseases and common mental disorders

“…The effectiveness of incentives, however, is contested in the behaviour change field (145). While some defend their use as a useful strategy to encourage initial uptake, others argue that they undermine intrinsic motivation, which is thought to be a key process for sustained engagement and constitutes a source of stress for participants (146). Participants of DHIs implementing a reward system in Singapore have also relayed mixed views on incentives (147).…”

Exploring early adolescents’ stressful IT use experiences

“…Recently, researchers have started to pay more attention to technostress emerging in the personal, nonworkrelated use of IT (Benlian 2020;Maier et al 2015b;2015c;Salo, Pirkkalainen, and Koskelainen 2019;2022). In contexts such as social media use, researchers have identified new stressors, including life/social comparison (e.g.…”