Overwhelmed by Technostress? Sensitive Archetypes and Effects in Times of Forced Digitalization

Abstract

This paper explores technostress and its dimensions, assessing the relationship with possible negative effects in the individual, social and professional sphere. The study uses a self-reported approach of undergraduate students in Spain (n = 337), forced to follow their academic life by using technology comprehensively because of social distancing, as a public health action necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The analysis, based on the exploration of a system of archetypes of the use of social networks, presents insights into contemporary technostress management as a new approach that can suppose opportunities for the optimization of prevention plans. Pearson’s correlation coefficients and structural equation modeling based on partial least squares (SEM-PLS) were the methods used for achieving the goals. The results reveal valid and reliable measures where technostress has a high impact on the individual sphere of students and there is a significant relationship between the type of user and techno-anxiety. The conclusions point to the imperative for developing a deeper understanding of technostress by archetypes, in both a higher education context (as antecedent) and the world of work, in an irreversible move towards a digital economy.

Can Leaders Prevent Technology From Backfiring? Empowering Leadership as a Double-Edged Sword for Technostress in Care

“…Second, future research endeavors could investigate which individual and contextual factors foster and/or constrain leaders as technostress buffers. On the one hand, past research that there are significant individual discrepancies in (techno)stress perceptions, associated with differences in age (Nimrod, 2018 ; Estrada-Muñoz et al, 2020 ), psychological and personality traits (Lee et al, 2014 ; Srivastava et al, 2015 ), as well as behavioral archetypes (González-López et al, 2021 ) and boundary preferences (Gadeyne et al, 2018 ; Bauwens et al, 2020 ), which could determine the effectiveness of leaders as resource replenishers for technostress. Therefore, we suggest future research to account for these variables in their design.…”

Analysis of the Emotional Exhaustion Derived From Techno-Stress in the Next Generation of Qualified Employees

“…In fact, the perception of the impact of COVID-19 on the well-being of students turned out to be a significant predictor of perceived stress ( Aslan et al, 2020 ). Moreover, the strongest relationship between global techno-stress occurs with individual negative consequences ( González-López et al, 2021 ), where intrapersonal conflicts such as digital attachment are framed. Given that fact, new studies must be done to explore whether these individual problems could influence other psychological aspects of students’ life, and condition their access to the labor market with guaranties of personal and professional success.…”

“…SmartPLS v.3.3.2 by Ringle et al (2015) was used for performing the multivariate required analyses of the measurement model and the structural model, both designed to provide the causal required explanations. Some recent records applying SEM on the field do exist ( Penado Abilleira et al, 2020 , 2021 ), and also SEM-PLS ( Shi et al, 2020 ; González-López et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Nonetheless, as it can be seen, the effects on the subject itself are shown in every group. In fact, if we consider the negative effects of technostress as individual, group or professional, it is the individual negative effects of techno-stress that is the most important, although González-López et al (2021) have demonstrated that these three levels are related in a statistically significant way. Within its individual effects, techno-stress is often associated with the appearance of psychological and behavioral disorders (La Torre et al, 2019).…”

“…The classifications are varied. They can be problems of the individual, group and organizational sphere ( Salanova et al, 1999 ); physical, social and emotional ( de Souza and Cappellozza, 2018 ); problems in professional and private life ( La Torre et al, 2019 ); individual, group and professional ( González-López et al, 2021 ), among others. Nonetheless, as it can be seen, the effects on the subject itself are shown in every group.…”