Jean-François Stich, Monideepa Tarafdar and Cary L. Cooper
The purpose of this paper is to review technostress-related challenges arising out of workplace communication, for employees and organizations, and to provide suggestions for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review technostress-related challenges arising out of workplace communication, for employees and organizations, and to provide suggestions for taking these challenges on.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents an overview of current research and practice in the area of technostress-related challenges workplace communication.
Findings
Employees face technostress challenges relating to workplace communication in the form of technology overload, interruptions and work-home interferences. Organizations have to strike a balance between giving employees the technology they want and protecting them from these challenges. Several interventions to strike such balance are reviewed and commented on.
Practical implications
The paper gives practitioners an accessible overview of current research and practice in the area of technostress from workplace communication such as e-mail. A number of practical interventions are reviewed and commented on, which could help employees tackle such challenges.
Originality/value
Although this paper reviews state-of-the-art research, it is written in an accessible and practitioner-oriented style, which should be found valuable by readers with limited time but urgency to deal with technostress challenges arising out of workplace communication.
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The ability to work anytime from anywhere is attractive to job seekers, who respond by developing needs regarding flexible working. Flexibility needs are compared to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The ability to work anytime from anywhere is attractive to job seekers, who respond by developing needs regarding flexible working. Flexibility needs are compared to the flexibility perceived in job advertisements to form an overall perception of flexibility fit. The purpose of this paper is to examine both the impact of flexibility fit (on applicant attraction) and its antecedents.
Design/methodology/approach
The impact of flexibility fit on applicant attraction and its antecedents are examined using person–job (PJ) fit theory. 92 job seekers analyzed a total of 391 job advertisements. The hypotheses are tested using multilevel structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results show that perceived flexibility fit is positively related to job pursuit and job acceptance intentions. They further show that perceived flexibility fit is driven by perceived job advertisements' flexibility exceeding applicants' needed flexibility, which in turn is driven by the flexibility actually present in job advertisements exceeding applicants' flexibility needs.
Originality/value
This study contributes to literature on new ways of working by highlighting the desirable nature of flexibility and its impact on fit perceptions. It further contributes to literature on job search and PJ fit by investigating a full model of fit, examining both outcomes and antecedents of perceived fit. For practitioners, this study highlights the importance of advertising flexibility to attract applicants.
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Jean-Francois Stich, Monideepa Tarafdar, Patrick Stacey and Cary L. Cooper
Using e-mail is a time-consuming activity that can increase workload stress. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the individual’s e-mail load…
Abstract
Purpose
Using e-mail is a time-consuming activity that can increase workload stress. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the individual’s e-mail load, workload stress and desired e-mail load, drawing from the cybernetic theory of stress.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on prior theory, the authors first hypothesized relationships among e-mail load, workplace stress and desired e-mail load. The authors then tested these relationships on a sample of 504 full-time workers in the USA, using survey data and covariance-based structural equation modeling techniques.
Findings
The authors find that higher e-mail load is associated with higher workload stress; higher workload stress is associated with lower desired e-mail load; lower desired e-mail load is associated with lower e-mail load; and higher workload stress is associated with higher psychological strain, higher negative emotions and lower organizational commitment.
Originality/value
The study provides a novel understanding of workload stress due to e-mail load, through the lens of cybernetic theory. It contributes to the e-mail overload and technostress literatures by conceptualizing desired e-mail load as a potential outcome of workplace stress and as a regulator for e-mail load. For practitioners, the study highlights the importance of managing employees’ e-mail load to prevent the negative effects of workplace stress and associated strains.
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Jean-François Stich, Samuel Farley, Cary Cooper and Monideepa Tarafdar
The purpose of this paper is to review four demands employees face when communicating through information and communication technologies (ICTs). The authors review the outcomes…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review four demands employees face when communicating through information and communication technologies (ICTs). The authors review the outcomes associated with each demand and discuss relevant interventions to provide a set of evidence-based recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews the following demands associated with ICTs: response expectations, constant availability, increased workload and poor communication. The authors draw upon empirical research to highlight outcomes and intervention strategies, before discussing implications for research and practice.
Findings
The findings suggest that there are diverse outcomes associated with each demand. The outcomes were not inherently negative as evidence suggests that positive performance outcomes can arise from response expectations and constant availability, although they may be allied by health and well-being costs.
Practical implications
A number of practical strategies are described to help organizations address computer-mediated communication demands, including tailored training, organizational policies and role modeling. The paper also outlines suggestions for future research on the dark side of IT use.
Originality/value
This paper integrates four interrelated demands that employees can face when communicating through technology. The authors extend knowledge by analyzing interventions which enables a synthesis of implications for practice.
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Keywords
This paper aims to review the demands employees face when communicating through information and communication technologies (ICTs), and relevant interventions are suggested to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the demands employees face when communicating through information and communication technologies (ICTs), and relevant interventions are suggested to provide a set of evidence-based recommendations to help protect work-life balance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the following demands associated with ICTs: response expectations, constant availability, increased workload and poor communication. The authors draw upon empirical research to highlight outcomes and intervention strategies, before discussing implications for research and practice.
Findings
The paper, which reviews four demands employees face when communicating through ICT (response expectations, constant availability, increased workload and poor communication), finds that there are diverse outcomes associated with each. The outcomes were not inherently negative, as evidence suggests that positive performance outcomes can arise from response expectations and constant availability, although there may be health and wellbeing costs.
Originality/value
Four interrelated demands that employees can face when communicating through technology are integrated and possible interventions are analyzed.
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This paper argues that there is a need to theorize socially constituted temporal phenomena, such as the fragmentation and multiplication of futures in media representations of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper argues that there is a need to theorize socially constituted temporal phenomena, such as the fragmentation and multiplication of futures in media representations of technology, since this contextualizes consumption in important ways.
Methodology/approach
However, this argument requires a critique of agentic bias in phenomenological approaches to time. By drawing on Husserl, Heidegger and Ricœur, it is shown that phenomenological time is fundamentally intersubjective and contextualized in a tension between chronological and experienced time, rather than first and foremost created and felt by the individual consumer subject or experienced only as “flow.” This implies a switch from an egological to a sociological approach to time and consumption.
Findings
Thus, the multiplication of socially constituted narratives about the future, in late-modernity, disrupts instrumental modes of thinking about the consumer object, making it “unhandy” and “disturbing.” The meaning of the object therefore becomes “damaged.” However, this also allows the possibility for it to be known in wholly new ways.
Research implications
Since many definitions of consumption are future oriented, the fragmentation of the future speaks to how we form meanings about consumption. Thus, a socially constituted theory of consumer temporality impacts the experience of consumer objects.
Practical implications
This theorization of time and consumption suggests the possibility of comparative studies of temporality to understand the universe in which consumer choices can unfold.
Originality/value
This is the first attempt to apply the epistemological criteria from the context of context debate in regard to consumer temporality.