How Does the Use of Information Communication Technology Affect Individuals? A Work Design Perspective

Abstract

People design and use technology for work. In return, technology shapes work and people. As information communication technology (ICT) becomes ever more embedded in today's increasingly digital organizations, the nature of our jobs, and employees' work experiences, are strongly affected by ICT use. This cross-disciplinary review focuses on work design as a central explanatory vehicle for exploring how individual ICT usage influences employees' effectiveness and well-being. We evaluated 83 empirical studies. Results show that ICT use affects employees through shaping three key work design aspects: job demands, job autonomy, and relational aspects. To reconcile previous mixed findings on the effects of ICT use on individual workers, we identify two categories of factors that moderate the effects of ICT use on work design: usertechnology fit factors and social-technology fit factors. We consolidate the review findings into a comprehensive framework that delineates both the work design processes linking ICT use and employee outcomes and the moderating factors. The review fosters an intellectual conversation across different disciplines, including organizational behavior, management information systems, and computer-mediated communication. The findings and proposed framework help to guide future research and to design high quality work in the digital era.

Achieving Effective Remote Working During the COVID‐19 Pandemic: A Work Design Perspective

“…This situation might be because ICT‐related communication experience is logically related to the technical system at work (Bélanger et al, 2013; Dennis, Fuller, & Valacich, 2008), which is not the primary research focus in remote working literature. However, our study suggests such an omission is problematic because many interpersonal processes are mediated by ICTs in the current digital workplace (Wang et al, 2020), and, therefore, communication quality is an important experience to consider for remote workers. Poor communication will not only hinder performance, as suggested in our research, but can also impair professional relationships (Camacho et al, 2018) and increase work stress (Day et al, 2012).…”

“…Work design refers to the content and organization of work tasks , activities , relationships , and responsibilities (Parker, 2014). Indeed, the concept of work design encompasses the notion of remote work (since working virtually represents a different “organization” of one's tasks compared to working in the office), and has been argued to be relevant to other contemporary work changes, such as the current digital era (e.g., Bélanger et al, 2013; Parker & Grote, 2020; Wang et al, 2020). Research from diverse theoretical perspectives on work design has generally converged to suggest that when work is designed in such a way as to result in particular “work characteristics,” then it will also generate well‐being, job satisfaction, performance, and other such positive outcomes.…”

Implementing digitally enabled collaborative innovation: A case study of online and offline interaction in the German automotive industry

“…ICT use is more likely to influence job demands and decision-making when it is applied to the technical or task aspects of work (e.g., searching for ideas) and influences relational work design when applied to the social aspects of work (e.g., evaluating those ideas). Where online information access allows for the inflow of more ideas, mere exposure to online channels of interaction are likely to result in increased exhaustion via information overload (Wang et al, 2020;Yu et al, 2018). The option to redirect to offline interaction, next to online interaction, deescalates such individual work pressure, subsequently improving creative idea assessment.…”

Indicators of Computer-Mediated Communication Affecting Remote Employee Engagement

“…As a result of technological advances and the advent of the coronavirus pandemic 2019, there is a rapid growth of people developing and using technology for work. As it happens, the technology and the coronavirus pandemic of 2019 are coincidentally shaping work and people (Wang et al, 2020). Computer-mediated communications and their associated activities such as sending an email, making a video call, searching the internet, using a tablet or mobile phone, have come to greatly impact people in the workplace, notably the knowledge worker.…”