An Exploratory Study of Psychological Adjustment and Coping among Information Technology Personnel in Australia

Practitioners who work with information technology (IT) are reported to be experiencing rising levels of worked related stress. The origins of the stress coming from increasing demands from system users, advances in technology, and the growing use of information and communication technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of intra and inter-organizational business activities. While a considerable amount of research has been undertaken on work-related stress in the information systems literature, a void has appeared and centres on the need to explore how IT personnel cope with stress. The research presented in this paper investigates whether coping and affect (both negative and positive) influence adjustment (anxiety, depression and stress) among IT personnel. A sample of 100 IT personnel from Australia completed a questionnaire, which contained measures for adjustment, affect state, and coping strategies. The use of hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that specific individual characteristics influenced the psychological adjustment of the IT personnel sampled. Information technology personnel who engaged in a more problem-focused style of coping, such as active coping were found to be better adjusted than those who engaged in a more emotionfocused styles of coping, such as cognitive avoidance coping, social coping, accepting responsibility, and self-controlling coping. The research concludes that the psychological adjustment of IT personnel is influenced by the types of coping strategies they use, specific individual demographics, and their affect state.