The Impact of Techno-Stress on Role Stress and Productivity: The Case of Qatar
ABSTRACT
In the recent past, the workplace environment has experienced huge changes due to the increased adoption of information technology and the resulting digital transformation. However, this development also poses a great danger to organizations and their workforce through the abuse, misuse, or overuse of this technology, leading to technostress. As such, this study aims to investigate the impact of technostress on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and how it affects the productivity of any organization. The study hypothesis is that technostress has an inverse relationship to individual productivity because it lowers employees job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The methodology adopted for this study is to examine the most current literature and other related research studies in Qatar touching on this subject of technostress in an Engineering management related work environment. The results of this research established that organizational commitment tends to have an immense positive effect on perceived productivity.
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT 2
Introduction/Background 4
Literature Review 4
Research Aim and Objectives 6
Methodology 7
T1: Collecting research articles 7
T2: Reading and examining research articles 7
T3: Writing a literature survey. 7
Research Contribution 8
Expected Deliverables 9
Research Limitation 10
Conclusion 10
Timeline 12
References 13
Introduction/Background
Technostress can be described as the negative effects resulting from increased use, misuse, or abuse of ICT and related technologies. According to Brod (2014), the negative effects associated with technostress can lead to a person or employee in any organization experiencing deteriorating psychological state and gives examples such as loss of concentration, insomnia, headaches, among others. As such, technostress arises from the information technology users attempts to cope with the social and cognitive obligations associated with this use. Finally, with the increased expansion and adoption of information and communication technology in modern organizations, the effects associated with technostress have also been on a sharp increase (Brod, 2014). This development points to an alarming trend that requires further investigations so that appropriate action can be taken to cease or mitigate it. This study aims to investigate the impact of technostress on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and how it affects the productivity of organizations in Qatar.
Literature Review
Today is has become inevitable for the organization to adopt information technology and integrate the resulting digital transformation into their everyday operations. However, these developments tend to have serious effects on their daily activities and lives of an organization’s workforce or employees. According to Barley, Meyerson, and Grodal (2011), modern organizations have benefited immensely by integrating information technology into their operations because the effectiveness and productivity of their employees have increased significantly. Despite the fact that these benefits exist, he notes that the same technology has brought about some challenges like health problems and stress on employees within an organization (Barley, Meyerson, and Grodalm, 2011). Based on this understanding, we can conclude that information technology cuts in both ways because although it enhances communication through collaborative technologies like voicemails and instant messaging, the dark side is that it may lead to increased stress within an organization’s workforce. The fact that employees are now under immense pressure to respond to numerous work-related messages can lead to increased stress and health-related complications, resulting in a condition known as technostress.
Although technostress is an issue that has been studied extensively, there is very little published research about it. However, researchers such as Simosi (2013) have managed to document research about technostress and also illustrate its effects. Accordingly, most people experiencing technostress tend to have low job satisfaction or fulfillment level which makes them less committed or interested in working for their organization. However, although Simosi, (2013) has exposed the impact of technostress on employees and the effects it has on any organization, he has failed to demonstrate the exact technologies characteristics likely to lead to this kind of stress. Simosi (2013) gives an example of issues like techno-overload which is a term used to demonstrate technostress and it emphasizes that technology tends to result in a heavy workload. Such unclear conceptualization of technostress is what makes it difficult for most employers and other relevant stakeholders to understand the issues at hand precisely thus acting as a hindrance to putting in place effective measures that can address this problem.
For organizations to enjoy the benefits associated with an advanced information technology environment there is a need to comprehend the issues associated with technostress on an organization’s workforce commitment, perceived performance, and satisfaction. According to various researches on the topic, there exists a negative correlation between employee performance and job satisfaction and technostress. For instance, Tarafdar and Ragu-Nathan (2007) argue that there exists a negative correlation between employee productivity and technostress. Moreover, technostress is known to decrease job innovation, commitment, and satisfaction among employees because they have to increase their interactions with various information technology gadgets constantly. These issues highlight the fact that technostress remains a serious problem affecting modern organization’s workforce and needs to be dealt with effectively to ensure that they capitalize on the benefits associated with this technology without being hindered by its side effects.
Research Aim and Objectives
The primary objective of this research is to investigate the impact of technostress on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and productivity especially in emerging countries like Qatar. Undertaking this study will allow for the development of new techniques that can be used to alleviate technostress effects on modern organization’s workforce in Qatar through the establishment of the most significant technostress inhibitors. This objective will be realized through examining the most current literature and other related research studies in Qatar touching on this subject matter. The study hypothesis is that technostress has an inverse relationship to individual productivity because it lowers employees job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The study hypothesis will be used to outline the expected outcome of the study while the methodology will highlight the various techniques used to gather information about the study to arrive at the conclusion made. A discussion of the study will follow to outline the observation made from the research and also outline the limitations experienced in the process. These steps will go a long way in helping this research process realize its identified goals and objectives.
Methodology
This research study adopted a qualitative study design where relevant information was obtained from different research studies. In this case, only one main work packages were undertaken for this study. This work package focused on establishing the background and literature review of technostress on an organization’s workforce commitment, perceived performance, and satisfaction.
The key tasks involved in this work package involved;
T1: Collecting research articles
This involved collecting all the relevant research articles on technostress with a key focus being on those detailing studies done in Qatar.
T2: Reading and examining research articles
Once, the process of collecting these research articles was complete, the next task was to read and examine these articles. Short notes were made from each article which would then be used to write the final literal survey of the research report. This objective will be realized through examining the most current literature and other related research studies in Qatar touching on this subject matter.
T3: Writing a literature survey.
This was the final step and it involved coming up with a research survey that detailed all the relevant key points from the collected research articles.
Research Contribution
According to the findings of this study, organizational commitment plays a huge role in enhancing productivity as evidenced through the research work done by Testa (2011). This research found that most employees tend to enthusiastic to show commitment to their organization which maximizes productivity and the overall reputation of an organization. Testa (2011) work further emphasis on this position by establishing that highly committed employees tend to be more productive in their work. With an increased commitment in any organization, the turnover rate increases significantly thus allowing such organizations to be competitive within their respective industries.
Another key finding from this study is that job satisfaction also plays a huge role in promoting organizational commitment. According to Dixit and Bhati (2012) job satisfaction enhances organizational commitment because most employees are more willing or open to be involved in the decision making process in their organizations when they are already satisfied with their work. Additionally, a happy workforce means that most employees are comfortable and satisfied with their job which helps to lower the turnover rate within an organization (Dixit & Bhati, 2012). Moreover, employees who are highly committed in their work can easily embrace an organization’s goals and values which serve to benefit the organization (Dixit & Bhati, 2012). Such employees tend to be more dedicated to helping their organizations accomplish their goals and objectives. As such, modern organizations should strive to enhance job satisfaction in their organizations to enhance commitment levels and productivity.
Several crucial implications emerge from this study. First, it is that future studies should utilize alternate techniques to measure the level of technostress within an organization, and this can be done by establishing that it is done before and after a new technology is introduced. Additionally, demographic factors should also be applied to identify technostress creators as well as their inhibitors. For instance, future researchers on the topic could focus their attention on possible stressful effects of a particular technology to the end-users during particular times of a year. Finally, future research should also seek to establish the effects of technostress while considering the technology involved such as tablets, phones, or computers. While this study primarily focused on Qatar, future studies should also explore other jurisdictions within the emerging world to have a broader picture of the situation in similar areas. Adopting such strategies ensures that this research study can be used as a benchmark for carrying out comparative studies on the impact of technostress between the emerging and developed worlds.
The findings of this study also have very useful implications for practitioners. For instance, future organizational managers will have to put in more effort to enhance the commitment of their employees through the use of developed models that can assess technostress levels. Moreover, the research findings also establish that job satisfaction tends to have a positive influence on an organization’s commitment levels. Finally, the research established that job satisfaction tends to influence organizational commitment positively. As such, engaging employees in different phases of technology testing and initiation ensures that technostress creators are reduced significantly which results in increased job satisfaction and commitment.
Expected Deliverables
The expected deliverables includes adopting a qualitative study method where relevant information was obtained by collecting all the relevant research articles on technostress with a key focus on those detailing studies done in Qatar. Short notes were made from each article which would then be used to write the final literal survey of the research report. The research survey details all the relevant key points from the collected research articles and journal.
Research Limitation
The research limitation that should be considered while interpreting the findings of this study is that different research articles on technostress were used with each has its own sample size and other variables. This different variables and sample size may led to some inconsistencies in regards to the conclusion made from each study, a factor that is likely to result in biased results while lowering the credibility of the findings. However, the fact that most of the research articles focus on the impact of technostress specifically in Qatar serves to lessen these limitations. Additionally, most of the research articles used had a sample size of not less than 400 samples which is within the acceptable standards. As such, this limitation is only likely to have negligible effect on the overall outcome of the study.
Finally, a limiting factor about the current research studies about technostress is that it was mainly carried out in developed countries while very little research has been done in the developing world. As such, undertaking this study in a country like Qatar will offer a good benchmark of how the issue of technostress affects emerging countries. As such, this study will add to the already existing about the subject of technostress by highlighting its influence on perceived performance, organization commitment, and overall job satisfaction.
Conclusion
From the foregoing, technostress lowers job satisfaction, organizational commitment and productivity within an organization. This research managed to establish that organizational commitment tends to have an immense positive effect on an organization’s perceived productivity. Additionally, job satisfaction tends to have a positive effect on overall organizational commitment. Job satisfaction enhances organizational commitment because most employees are more willing or open to be involved in the decision making process in their organizations when they are already satisfied with their work. Additionally, a happy workforce means that most employees are comfortable and satisfied with their job which helps to lower the turnover rate within an organization. As such, technostress creator’s impact on job satisfaction tends to be significantly negative while technostress inhibitors’ impact of job satisfaction is significantly positive. Undertaking this study will allow for the development of new techniques that can be used to alleviate technostress effects on modern organization’s workforce in Qatar through the establishment of the most significant technostress inhibitors. This study implies that future researchers on the topic could focus their attention on possible stressful effects of a particular technology to the end-users during particular times of a year. Additionally, future research should also seek to establish the effects of technostress while considering the technology involved such as tablets, phones, or computers. While this study primarily focused on Qatar, future studies should also explore other jurisdictions within the emerging world to have a broader picture of the situation in similar areas.
Timeline
Weeks
WPs
W1 w2 w3
WP1Background and Literature Review Collecting Research Articles Reading And Examining Research Articles Writing A Literature Survey
References
Ahmad, U. N. U., Amin, S. M., & Ismail, W. K. W. (2012). The Relationship between Technostress Creators and Organizational Commitment among Academic Librarians. Procedia: Social and Behavioral Sciences, 40,182–186. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.03.179
Al-Qallaf, C. L. (2006). Librarians and technology in academic and research libraries in Kuwait: Perceptions and effects. Libri, 56(3), 168–179. doi:10.1515/LIBR.2006.168
Barley, S. R., Meyerson, D. E., & Grodal, S. (2011). E-mail as a source and symbol of stress. Organization Science, 22(4), 887–906. doi:10.1287/orsc.1100.0573
Brillhart, P. E. (2004). Technostressin the Workplace Managing Stress in the Electronic Workplace. The Journalof American Academy of Business, Cambridge, 5(1/2), 302–307.
Brod, C. (2014). Technostress: The human cost of computer revolution. Colorado: Westview Press.
Buitendach, J. H., & De Witte, H. (2005). Job insecurity, extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment of maintenance workers in a parastatal. South African Journal of Business Management, 36(2), 27–37.
Çikrıkci, O. (2016). The effect of internet use on well-being: Meta-analysis. Computers in Human Behavior, 65(December), 560–566. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.09.021
Cooper, C. L., Dewe, P. J., & O’Driscoll, M. P. (2001). Organizational Stress: A review and critique of theory, research and applications. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Dixit, V., & Bhati, M. (2012). A study about employee commitment and its impact on sustained productivity in the Indian auto-component industry. European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, 1(6), 34–51.
Riedl, R. (2013). On the biology of technostress: Literature review and research agenda. ACM SIGMIS Database,44(1), 18–55. doi:10.1145/2436239.2436242
Robbins, S.,Judge, T. A., Millett,B., & Boyle, M.(2013). Organisational behaviour. Pearson Higher Education AU.
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Şahin, Y. L., & Çoklar, A. N. (2009). Social networking users’ views on technology and the determination of technostress levels. Procedia: Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), 1437–1442. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2009.01.253
Shu, Q., Tu, Q., & Wang, K. (2011). The impact of computer self-efficacy and technology dependence on computer-related technostress: A social cognitive theory perspective. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 27(10), 923–939. doi:10.1080/10447318.2011.555313
Simosi, M. (2013). Trajectories of organizational commitment: A qualitative study in a Greek public sector organization (forthcoming). International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 13(1), 111–130. doi:10.1177/1470595812452637
Smith, M., & Salvendy, G. (2013). Human-computer interaction. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Tarafdar, M., Tu, Q., Ragu-Nathan, B. S., & Ragu-Nathan, T. S. (2007). The impact of technostress on role stress and productivity. Journal of Management Information Systems, 24(1), 301–328. doi:10.2753/MIS0742-1222240109
Testa, M. R. (2011). Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and effort in the service environment. The Journal of Psychology, 135(2), 226–236. doi:10.1080/00223980109603693 PMID:11403344
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Yücel,İ.(2012).Examining the relationships among job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention: An empirical study. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(20), 44. doi:10.5539/ijbm.v7n20p44
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Study Notes:
The Impact of Techno-Stress on Role Stress and Productivity: The Case of Qatar
Introduction/Background:
Technostress refers to the negative effects resulting from the increased use, misuse, or abuse of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and related technologies. The increased expansion and adoption of ICTs in modern organizations have resulted in an alarming trend of the effects associated with technostress. This study aims to investigate the impact of technostress on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and productivity of organizations in Qatar.
Literature Review:
The integration of ICTs into modern organizations has increased productivity but has also brought about challenges, including technostress. Technostress has been found to lead to health problems and stress on employees within an organization. Employees under immense pressure to respond to numerous work-related messages can lead to increased stress and health-related complications, resulting in a condition known as technostress. Although technostress has been studied extensively, there is little published research about it. Technostress has been found to decrease job innovation, commitment, and satisfaction among employees. There exists a negative correlation between employee productivity and technostress.
Research Aim and Objectives:
The primary objective of this research is to investigate the impact of technostress on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and productivity especially in emerging countries like Qatar. The objective will be realized through examining the most current literature and other related research studies in Qatar touching on this subject matter.
Methodology:
The methodology adopted for this study is to examine the most current literature and other related research studies in Qatar touching on the subject of technostress in an engineering management related work environment. The research process consists of three tasks: collecting research articles, reading and examining research articles, and writing a literature survey.
Research Contribution:
The research will contribute to the development of new techniques that can be used to alleviate technostress effects on modern organization’s workforce in Qatar through the establishment of the most significant technostress inhibitors.
Expected Deliverables:
The expected deliverables of this research are a literature survey on the impact of technostress on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and productivity in Qatar, and recommendations for organizations to manage technostress among their employees.
Research Limitation:
The limitation of this research is the availability of published research on the subject matter. There is little published research about technostress in Qatar.
Technostress has become a significant concern in modern organizations due to the increased adoption of ICTs. Technostress has been found to decrease job innovation, commitment, and satisfaction among employees. The objective of this research is to investigate the impact of technostress on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and productivity in Qatar. The study will contribute to the development of new techniques that can be used to alleviate technostress effects on modern organization’s workforce in Qatar through the establishment of the most significant technostress inhibitors.
Sources
Yücel,İ.(2012).Analyzing the relationships amongst job satisfaction, organizational dedication, and turnover intention: An empirical examine. Worldwide Journal of Enterprise and Administration, 7(20), 44. doi:10.5539/ijbm.v7n20p44
Zheng, X., & Lee, M. (2016). Extreme use of cell social networking websites: Unfavourable Penalties on people. Computer systems in Human Conduct, 65(December), 65–67. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.08.zero11
