Healthcare managers’ experiences of technostress and the actions they take to handle it – a critical incident analysis

Abstract

Background Healthcare managers, in comparison with other healthcare professionals, have an increased likelihood of experiencing technostress at work. Since knowledge about the causes and severity of technostress and about the strategies healthcare managers use to handle it is limited, the aim of this study was to describe their experience of technostress and the actions they employ to address it. Methods An explorative design based on the critical incident technique was used. In total, 20 healthcare managers (10 women, 10 men) from four hospitals in two county councils in Sweden were purposively selected according to professional background, hierarchical management position, control span, time in the management position, and sex. Semi-structured interviews with regard to critical incidents and actions taken to handle technostress were conducted. Results Healthcare managers’ experiences of technostress (n = 279) were categorised related to three main areas. These involved ‘negative aspects of digital communication’ (e.g. high workload, invasion of private life, and negative feelings related to digital communication), ‘poor user experience of ICT systems (such as illogicality of the ICT system, time-consuming ICT system, or malfunctioning ICT system) and ‘needs to improve organisational resources’ (e.g. needs associated with digital literacy, user influence and distribution of work and ICT systems). Actions taken to handle technostress (n=196) were described relating to three main areas involving ‘culture, norms and social support’ (such as good email culture, and co-worker support), ‘individual resources’ (e.g. individual strategies and competence) and ‘organisational resources’ (such as IT-related assistance and support). Conclusions Healthcare managers described negative aspects of digital communication, poor user experience of ICT systems, and lack of organisational resources as potential technostress creators. These problems were handled by taking action related to culture, norms and social support, and individual as well as organisational resources. All these features, along with consideration of healthcare managers’ job demands and resources in general, should be incorporated into actions monitored by healthcare organisations to improve or maintain a sustainable digitalised environment for healthcare managers. Trial registration Regional Ethics Board in Linköping #2017/597–31. Registered 20 March 2018. URL not available.

Overcoming the “Dark Side” of Technology—A Scoping Review on Preventing and Coping with Work-Related Technostress

“…Other larger groups were employees at educational and research institutions ( n = 6) [ 48 , 58 , 59 , 73 , 76 , 91 ], salespeople or sales professionals ( n = 6) [ 6 , 9 , 24 , 56 , 83 , 87 ], knowledge workers ( n = 5) [ 7 , 22 , 66 , 97 , 98 ], and public sector employees ( n = 3) [ 15 , 55 , 64 ]. The mean work experience among those studies reporting it ( n = 28) was 9.15 years [ 6 , 9 , 13 , 21 , 24 , 54 , 56 , 57 , 59 , 60 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 71 , 72 , 75 , 80 , 83 , 84 , 86 , 87 , 89 , 91 , 93 , 95 , 97 , 103 ]. More study characteristics are provided in the Supplementary Materials in Table S6 .…”

“…Twelve studies examined organisational-level demands [ 48 , 55 , 58 , 63 , 66 , 75 , 86 , 88 , 94 , 97 , 98 , 103 ]. These included response pressure [ 58 , 94 , 103 ], a competitive climate [ 53 ], power centralisation in an organisation [ 88 ] and an organisational climate or culture of innovation [ 63 , 66 , 88 ]. However, the latter was also assumed to be a resource in one study [ 74 ].…”

“…However, the latter was also assumed to be a resource in one study [ 74 ]. Task interdependence [ 86 ] and task complexity [ 74 ], need for redistribution of work and administrative support [ 103 ], social conflicts [ 48 , 66 , 103 ], poor communication [ 94 , 103 ], necessity of emails and confusion of responsibilities [ 98 ] were mentioned as well. Lack of support [ 45 ] and of sense of achievement [ 64 ] were further described.…”

“…Further technology-related stressors which did not refer to the techno-stressors as defined by Ragu-Nathan et al [ 10 ] were mentioned in 20 studies [ 21 , 22 , 45 , 54 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 68 , 70 , 76 , 79 , 85 , 86 , 94 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 102 , 103 ]. Some of them are technology-induced but may be reinforced by organisational conditions, for example role stress [ 70 ], i.e., role ambiguity [ 21 , 86 ], which can be amplified by a high intensity of telework [ 86 ], and role overload [ 21 , 66 , 71 , 80 ], but also invasion of privacy [ 66 , 86 , 99 ].…”

“…Similarly, IT presenteeism, i.e., being reachable and able to access others [ 104 ], was examined in connection with invasion of privacy and especially affected employees with a low intensity of teleworking [ 86 ]. Occasionally, specific demands were stated such as terminology misfit between ICT systems and healthcare [ 103 ], challenging nature of data [ 102 ] and lack of control over dealing with emails [ 98 ]. At the same time, a fear of missing out important information was mentioned in qualitative studies [ 98 , 103 ].…”