Interrupting the Workplace: Examining Stressors in an Information Technology Context

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the negative and positive outcomes of information and communication technology (ICT) in facilitating and reducing stress. The goals of this dissertation are twofold: 1) to deepen our understanding of how ICT-enabled interruptions influence individuals' episodic stress and 2) to examine whether ICTs may also be used to diminish stress evoked by ICT-enabled interruptions. Originating from psychology, the demands control model (Karasek, 1979) is used as an overarching theoretical lens to explain this technology-based duality, where technology serves as both a problem causing and a solution alleviating stress. The demands control model suggests

Technostress Research: A Nurturing Ground for Measurement Pluralism?

“…This theory constitutes the conceptual foundation of many studies in technostress research, especially in recent years (e.g., Galluch et al, 2015;. This transactional model posits that stress is not one component of a process (e.g., a stimulus or a response) but the process itself that can lead to detrimental effects in individuals.…”

Linking User Age and Stress in the Interruption Era: The Role of Computer Experience

“…Stress was captured via a stress scale. The scale (see Appendix 1) was an existing stress measure; we adapted a five-item scale from Galluch et al [29] that asked the subjects how much stress they experienced in response to the task they had just performed.…”

“…We used likert-type scales ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree Stress [29]  I felt strain due to the task demands.  I felt emotionally drained from working on the memory task.…”

When Modern Technologies Meet Ageing Workforces: Older Workers are more affected by Demands from Mobile Interruptions than their Younger Counterparts

“…Specifically, although T-M interruptions have been recognized in the practitioner literature as an important problem [1], IS research is just beginning to examine the potential negative impacts of such interruptions on individuals and organizations. Although some studies [14,19] have described T-M interruptions as a potential source of technostress, they have not focused on interruptions per se but have, rather, discussed them along with other sources of technostress (for an exception, see [37]). As a result of this broad approach, prior research has seldom specifically theorized and measured demands from T-M interruptions, limiting what we know about interruption-based stress.…”

“…Our work extends prior research by offering a more detailed and specific examination of the role of T-M interruptions in technostress. Specifically, the present study builds on prior works' conceptualizations of T-M interruptions as stressors [14,37] to theorize that demands from T-M interruptions impact work-related technology usage-a key outcome variable in IS research [11]-through creating inter-role conflict (i.e., a specific form of role-based stress).…”