Assessing potential effects of daily cross-domain usage of information and communication technologies

ABSTRACT

A within-person diary research design with 39 full-time workers was used to examine the effects of daily cross-domain usage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on job-related performance and stress in both workplace and home domains. Segmentation preference effects on links between cross-domain ICT usage and both job performance and job stress were also analyzed. A positive association was found for the first relationship in mixed home-workplace contexts, and a negative association for the second in home contexts only. A stronger segmentation preference effect on the negative relationship between cross-domain ICT usage and job stress was found for integrators (employees who integrate work and home domains) compared to separators (employees who separate work/non-work activities). Our findings suggest that daily cross-domain ICT usage can enhance job performance and reduce job stress, with a moderating effect of segmentation preference on the link between cross-domain ICT usage and job stress.

KEYWORDS:

• Cross-domain usage
• information and communication technologies
• online social support
• segmentation preference
• job performance
• job stress
• diary study

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/xwkrb

Open Scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open science badges for Open Materials through Open Practices Disclosure. The materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/xwkrb

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology [102-2410-H-011 -022]. The authors would also like to express our appreciation for the financial support by the “Academic Exchange and Cooperation Project” between the Top University Strategic Alliance (Taiwan, R.O.C.) and the University of California, Berkeley(U.S.A.).

Notes on contributors

Ying-Jung Yvonne Yeh

Dr. Ying-Jung Yvonne Yeh is an associate professor in the Department of Business Administration at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST). Her research areas include work-family balance and the impact of technology on employees’ behaviors and well-being.

The-Ngan Ma

The-Ngan Ma is a PhD candidate at NTUST.

Su-Ying Pan

Dr. Su-Ying Pan is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Macau University of Science and Technology. Her research interests mainly focus on work-family issues and leadership.

Pei-Ju Chuang

Dr. Pei-Ju Chuang is an associate research fellow at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research.

Yu-Hua Jhuang

Yu-Hua Jhuang works in banking industry. He assisted in the data collection for this research.