Reference: Ragu-Nathan, T.S., Tarafdar, M., Ragu-Nathan, B.S. and Tu, Q. (2008) The consequences of technostress for end users in organizations: Conceptual development and empirical validation, Information Systems Research 19:4, 417-433.
It seems that "technostress" has entered the technical (and perhaps, everyday) lexicon. I'm glad to know there's a word to express what I've been feeling for years. There are times when I feel chained to my computer, when there are not enough hours in the day simply to answer my email. The need for triage always makes me anxious, as my to-do list gets longer and longer. But, I really don't know if it would be any different without electronic communication. The electronic communication simply adds to the immediacy and makes the stress more evident.
The article is interesting from a management perspective because it identifies factors that create and inhibit technostress. Although managers in many organizations can manipulate them to some degree, I wish I could control any of them myself. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. For the record, the authors find that technostress is created by techno-overload, techo-insecurity, techno-invasion (how it intrudes into your personal life), techno-uncertainty, and techno-complexity. Technostress is diminished by the provision of technical support, literacy facilitation, and involvement facilitation (the involvement of end users in the technological choices made by their organization).
I was really amazed by the finding that technostress decreased with age. This seems totally counterintuitive. Younger people are supposed to be completely comfortable with technology, and it should not cause them much stress. The authors argue that their finding could be due to the fact that older people are just more comfortable in their jobs, with their tenure softening any stress that they might otherwise feel. I don't buy it, but I have no other explanation.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
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