Impact of Technostress on End-User Satisfaction and Performance

Organizational use of information and communications technologies (ICT) is increasingly resulting in negative cognitions in individuals, such as information overload and interruptions. recent literature has encapsulated these cognitions in 304 TarafDar, Tu, aND ragu-NaThaN the concept of technostress, which is stress caused by an inability to cope with the demands of organizational computer usage. given the critical role of the user in organizational information processing and accomplishing application-enabled workflows, understanding how these cognitions affect users’ satisfaction with ICT and their performance in ICT-mediated tasks is an important step in appropriating benefits from current computing environments. The objective of this paper is to (1) understand the negative effects of technostress on the extent to which end users perceive the applications they use to be satisfactory and can utilize them to improve their performance at work and (2) identify mechanisms that can mitigate these effects. Specifically, we draw from the end-user computing and technostress literature to develop and validate a model that analyzes the effects of factors that create technostress on the individual’s satisfaction with, and task performance using, ICT. The model also examines how user involvement in ICT development and support mechanisms for innovation can be used to weaken technostress-creating factors and their outcomes. The results, based on survey data analysis from 233 ICT users from two organizations, show that factors that create technostress reduce the satisfaction of individuals with the ICT they use and the extent to which they can utilize ICT for productivity and innovation in their tasks. Mechanisms that facilitate involvement of users, and encourage them to take risks, learn, explore new ideas, and experiment in the context of ICT use, diminish the factors that create technostress and increase satisfaction with the ICT they use. These mechanisms also have a positive effect on users’ appropriation of ICT for productivity and innovation in their tasks. The paper contributes to emerging literature on negative outcomes of ICT use by (1) highlighting the influence of technostress on users’ satisfaction and performance (i.e., productivity and innovation in ICT-mediated tasks) with ICT, (2) extending the literature on technostress, which has so far looked largely at the general behavioral and psychological domains, to include the domain of end-user computing, and (3) demonstrating the importance of user involvement and innovation support mechanisms in reducing technostress-creating conditions and their ICT use–related outcomes. Key wordS and phraSeS: end-user performance, end-user satisfaction, ICT use, information overload, survey research, technostress, user involvement. organizaTional uSe of inforMaTion and coMMunicaTionS TechnologieS (icT) has become complex, real-time, ubiquitous, and functionally pervasive, often requiring users to process information simultaneously and continually from different applications and devices. Consequently, ICT users deal with a surfeit of information, experience frequent interruptions from different computing devices and applications, and engage in multitasking on them. further, they are increasingly frustrated and overwhelmed by continual efforts required to master the frequent introduction of new ICT. In recent times, therefore, managers have experienced negative cognitions toward ICT. recent academic literature has encapsulated these cognitions in the concept of technostress [65], which is stress caused by an inability to cope with the demands of organizational computer usage. Technostress describes the stress that users experience as a result of application multitasking, constant connectivity, information overload, frequent system upgrades and consequent uncertainty, continual relearning and consequent job-related IMpaCT Of TEChNOSTrESS ON END-uSEr SaTISfaCTION aND pErfOrMaNCE 305 insecurities, and technical problems associated with the organizational use of ICT. from the perspective of psychological outcomes, technostress reduces individuals’ job satisfaction and commitment to their organization [65]. from the point of view of behavioral outcomes, it reduces individuals’ productivity at work [75]. What is the potential effect of these negative cognitions on outcomes relating to the individual’s use of ICT? There is research evidence [8, 35, 63] that in spite of continuing sophistication in the functional capabilities of ICT, technology overload and ICT-mediated interruptions reduce the satisfaction of users with the ICT they employ for their tasks and their ability to benefit from them. Emerging practitioner perspectives [22, 78] reinforce these findings, suggesting that excessive information, frequent upgrades, and blurring of work–home boundaries induced by pervasive connectivity result in inaccurate information processing and poor task-related decision making using ICT and in dissatisfaction with ICT. at the same time, organizational computing environments have an important role for the end user in generating, accessing, analyzing, and using business information and in accomplishing application-enabled workflows. In such environments, it is critical that end users be satisfied with the applications and systems they interact with and work on and be able to effectively use them to enhance the quality and efficiency of their work tasks [16, 45, 81]. understanding how these “negative” or “unconstructive” aspects of ICT and the negative cognitions associated with them affect user satisfaction and ICT-mediated task performance is therefore clearly an important step in managing and appropriating benefits from current commuting environments. research in this area is emerging and scarce, and there is absence of (1) a theoretical framework for understanding and (2) systematic empirical investigation for demonstrating how these aspects impact the user in his or her day-to-day application of ICT to organizational tasks. recognizing that the concept of technostress encompasses user-perceived negative cognitions about ICT, we apply the technostress lens to this research gap and enunciate a twofold objective of this paper. The first objective is to understand the (adverse) effects of technostress on the extent to which end users perceive the applications they use to be satisfactory and can utilize them to improve their performance at work. Second, we identify mechanisms that can reduce these effects. Specifically, we draw from the end-user computing and organizational stress literature to develop and validate a model that analyzes the effects of factors that create technostress on end-user satisfaction and end-user performance. We further study how stress-alleviating factors, such as mechanisms that facilitate user involvement in ICT development and those that support innovation, can be used to weaken technostresscreating conditions and their outcomes. The results, based on survey data analysis from 233 ICT users from two organizations, show that factors that create techno stress reduce users’ satisfaction with the ICT they use and the extent to which they utilize ICT for productivity and innovation in their tasks. Mechanisms that facilitate involvement of users and encourage them to take risks, learn, explore new ideas, and experiment in the context of ICT use diminish the factors that create technostress for them and increase their satisfaction with the ICT they use. These mechanisms also have a positive effect on users’ appropriation of ICT for productivity and innovation in their tasks. The paper 306 TarafDar, Tu, aND ragu-NaThaN contributes to emerging literature on “negative” outcomes of organizational ICT use by (1) highlighting the importance of technostress on users’ satisfaction with ICT and on their performance—that is, their productivity and innovation—in ICT-mediated tasks, (2) extending the literature on technostress, which has so far looked largely at the general behavioral and psychological domains, to include the domain of end-user computing, and (3) demonstrating the importance of user involvement and innovation support mechanisms in reducing technostress-creating conditions and outcomes. Next, we provide a theoretical background by reviewing studies on stress and technostress, and then we develop the research model and hypotheses. In the fourth section, we describe methods and validate the model. The paper closes with a discussion of the findings and research and managerial implications. Theoretical Background Organizational Stress STreSS iS a cogniTive STaTe experienced by an individual when there is an “environmental situation that is perceived as presenting a demand which threatens to exceed the person’s capabilities and resources for meeting it, under conditions where he or she expects a substantial differential in the rewards and costs from meeting the demand versus not meeting it” [56, p. 1351]. It is a reaction to the perceived imbalance between a person and the environment [9, 19], borne out of anticipation of an inability to adequately respond to demand from the imbalance and accompanied by the expectation of negative consequences for inadequate response [56]. as shown in figure 1, the phenomenon of stress consists of three aspects—stressors, strain, and situational variables [52]. Stressors represent factors or conditions that create stress. These conditions could be due to the individual’s role [50] and task [56]. role stress and task stress have been widely studied. More recently, technology in general and ICT in particular have Figure 1. general relationships among Stressors, Strain, and Situational Variables IMpaCT Of TEChNOSTrESS ON END-uSEr SaTISfaCTION aND pErfOrMaNCE 307 emerged as conditions for the cause of stress [20]; this is the focus of technostress. Strain represents the outcome of stress. Individuals experience strain as a result of being exposed to stressors [19]. Strain due to role and task stress manifests in the form of outcomes such as reduced productivity, job dissatisfaction [47, 50], and task performance [19]. Situational variables or interventions are organizational mechanisms that provide ways in which stressors can be reduced and their effects alleviated [19, 56]. In the context of role and task stress, they include social support, role redesign, autonomy, control, and personnel policy changes [48]. Stress is therefore a process that involves the individual perceiving the presence of one or more stressors and reacting to them, the outward manifestation of the latter being strain [19]. In the most general case, stressors increase strain. Situational variables decrease strain and also decrease stressors [19]. as shown in figure 1, the focus of technostress is on stressors, situational variables, and strain in the context of the use of ICT.