Is technostress stressing coaches out? The relevance of technostress to coaches’ emotional exhaustion and coaches’ perception of coaching success

ABSTRACT

The coaching market experienced a tremendous change within the last few years with a substantial increase in digital coaching. So far, little is known about possible effects of technostress on coaches’ health and coaching success. We conducted two studies on potential consequences of technostress in terms of coaches’ emotional exhaustion and coaches’ perception of coaching success. In Study 1 (N = 330), we tested the direct relationship between coaches’ perceived technostress and emotional exhaustion. In Study 2 (N = 132), we used a time-lagged design to replicate our findings and extended our model. We investigated potential consequences of coaches’ technostress for coaches’ perception of coaching success mediated by coaches’ emotional exhaustion. Across both studies, coaches’ technostress had a direct effect on coaches’ emotional exhaustion but not on their perception of coaching success. This effect was maintained at a 6-week follow-up assessment in Study 2. Furthermore, techno-overload and techno-uncertainty had the highest means among coaches in both studies and therefore seem to have the greatest relevance for coaches. Finally, core self-evaluations did not buffer the relationship between coaches’ technostress and emotional exhaustion. The results expand knowledge about the consequences of technostress for coaches’ health and coaching success and highlight the importance of coaches’ self-care.

KEYWORDS:

• Coaching
• digital coaching
• technostress

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Natalie M. Michalik

Natalie M. Michalik is a research associate at SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Germany. Her research focuses on the digitalisation of coaching and what opportunities and consequences arise for both client and coach.

Carsten C. Schermuly

Carsten C. Schermuly is a professor for business psychology at SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Germany. His main research focuses on psychological empowerment, interaction processes and diversity in teams, and the efficacy of coaching.