Employee Technostress: Analyzing the Influence of Sociodemographic Characteristics on Techno-Stressors and Their Consequences

Abstract

Technostress has garnered increasing interest in recent times due to the pervasive role of technology and its impact on well-being and overall quality of life. Understanding and addressing technostress is crucial to promoting healthier relationships with technology, mitigating its negative effects, and developing strategies to manage the challenges it poses. This article presents a set of sociodemographic characteristics, explores their relationships with different dimensions of technostress (i.e., techno-stressors), and analyzes the consequences of these techno-stressors. The aim of this research is threefold: first, we examine how the sociodemographic characteristics of gender, age, living arrangement, education level, work experience, tenure, organization size, and organization type relate to techno-stressors, namely techno-overload, techno-invasion, techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty. Second, we identify technostress profiles based on their levels of technostress across these five dimensions. Third, we analyze the impact of the selected sociodemographic variables in predicting cluster membership and examine differences in role overload, role conflict, life satisfaction, and work–family conflict across the identified clusters. Data were collected cross-sectionally from a convenience sample of 1187 Chilean workers and analyzed using R Studio for Windows. Descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, and multinomial logistic regression were performed. Our results show that certain sociodemographic variables have a significant impact on specific dimensions of technostress. We also identified three distinct clusters based on their technostress levels (high, moderate, and low). Cluster 1 emerged as the profile with the lowest levels across all dimensions, cluster 2 displayed moderate levels, and cluster 3 exhibited the highest levels. Multinomial logistic regression also revealed that living alone, education level, tenure, and organization size were all significant predictors of technostress cluster membership. There were also significant differences among the three clusters in terms of the consequences of technostress. Specifically, individuals in the high technostress cluster reported higher levels of role overload and role conflict, lower life satisfaction, and greater work–family conflict. Future research avenues and implications for mental health and well-being are discussed at the end of the article.

Keywords:

• Technostress
• techno-stressors
• sociodemographic characteristics
• role overload
• role conflict
• life satisfaction
• work–family conflict

Author contributions

All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted manuscript. PF: conceptualization, study design, methodology, data analysis, writing – original draft; review, editing, and supervision; VP: conceptualization, methodology, data analysis, writing – original draft; review, editing, and supervision; ME: investigation; writing – original draft; review and editing; CS: investigation, study design, data curation; writing – original draft.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pilar Ficapal-Cusí

Pilar Ficapal-Cusí is an associate professor in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. Her research focuses on the explanatory dimensions of occupational health and job quality, the impact of digitization on human and organizational behavior, and sustainable human resources management.

Vicente Peñarroja

Vicente Peñarroja is an associate professor in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. He is currently researching the impact of digitization processes on skills, job performance, job satisfaction, and well-being, as well as the psychosocial risks that may arise from the use of digital technologies.

Mihaela Enache-Zegheru

Mihaela Enache-Zegheru is an associate professor of Firm Organization and Human Resources Management at the Faculty of Economics and Business at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Her research focuses on organizational behavior, sustainable human resources management, digitization, and healthy work environments.

Cristian Salazar-Concha

Cristian Salazar-Concha is an associate professor of Management Information Systems and director of the Administration Institute at the Universidad Austral de Chile. His primary research focus is on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in relation to business, labor, social issues, and health.