Digital technologies are now at the center of university teaching and learning. They can also cause technostress, a strain that arises when technology demands outpace a person's capacity to cope. This study examined how technostress relates to psychological well-being in undergraduates and how these variables differ across demographic and academic groups. The study used a cross-sectional survey design. Using multi-stage sampling, the study selected 1001 undergraduate students (317 male and 684 female). They were enrolled in the faculties of Education, Arts, and Science at two public and two private universities in Lahore District, Pakistan. The study used a 21-item scale to assess technostress across five creators: overload, complexity, uncertainty, insecurity, and invasion. Well-being was assessed with the 42-item form of the Ryff scales. In a pilot sample of 300 students, internal consistency was .71 for technostress and .880 for well-being. Analyses were run in SPSS version 21 and included correlation, t tests for two groups, and ANOVA for more than two groups. The pilot study aimed to determine the instrument’s Cronbach's alpha reliability (TS = 0.705 and RSPW = 0.840). Experts were consulted to confirm the instrument's validity. The study tested the hypotheses using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed a weak positive relationship between technostress and psychological well-being among undergraduate students (r = 0.22), which was statistically significant. There was no significant difference between male and female students in technostress and psychological well-being. However, the mean values indicate that females (M = 68.38) have slightly higher technostress than males (M = 67.16). Therefore, universities should foster a supportive digital environment that helps diminish the negative effects of technostress on students’ psychological well-being.
This study examined teacher candidates' technostress levels and information and communication technology (ICT) competencies, the association between these constructs, and differences according to selected variables. A quantitative correlational survey design was used with 427 third- and fourth-year teacher candidates from nine programs at the Faculty of Education, Akdeniz University, in the 2024–2025 academic year. Data were collected with the Teachers' Technostress Levels Defining Scale, adapted for teacher candidates, and the ICT Competencies Scale for Teacher Candidates and were analyzed with simple linear regression, Mann–Whitney U, and Kruskal–Wallis H tests; group comparisons were treated as exploratory and adjusted with the Holm procedure. Mean technostress scores fell within the upper third of the possible range, and mean ICT competence scores fell within the lower third. ICT competence was negatively associated with technostress and accounted for 36.5% of its variance. Female candidates reported higher technostress than males, with small effect sizes. Technostress was higher and ICT competence was lower in the Science and Guidance and Psychological Counseling programs. Because the design is cross-sectional, these findings indicate associations rather than causal effects.
Digital technologies have become integral to higher education, yet the psychological strain they create for students is still poorly understood from the students’ own perspective, particularly in developing countries. This qualitative study explored university students lived experiences of digital stress (used interchangeably with technology stress and technostress to denote stress arising from digital devices and technology-based academic systems), including its sources, psychological impacts, and coping strategies. A phenomenological qualitative design was employed. Fifteen students (7 male, 8 females; aged 19–28 years) enrolled in BS, MS/MPhil, and PhD programmes at public and private universities in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan, were selected through purposive sampling and interviewed using semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The data were analysed using the thematic analysis approach of Braun and Clarke (2006). Five themes were identified: (1) Academic Digital Overload, (2) Technological Anxiety and Uncertainty, (3) Emotional and Cognitive Exhaustion, (4) Constant Connectivity Pressure, and (5) Coping Strategies for Digital Stress. Students described managing multiple platforms and a continuous digital workload, fear of technical failure during examinations and submissions, mental fatigue, reduced concentration and irritability, and an expectation of being permanently available. Despite these stressors, students used time management, digital breaks, and peer support to cope. Interpreted through Technostress Theory and the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, the findings show that digital stress is a multidimensional phenomenon shaped by academic demands, technological environments, and coping resources. Universities should develop student-centred digital learning systems that reduce technology-induced stress and promote psychological well-being.
The development of digital-based work systems has increased job demands and technology use, which may lead to burnout among workers, particularly in the telecommunications sector. This study aimed to determine the relationship between job demands and technostress with burnout levels among employees of PT Telkom Infrastruktur Indonesia in Medan. This study employed a quantitative cross-sectional design. The population consisted of 55 employees, and all members of the population were selected as samples using a total sampling technique. Data were collected using the Job Demands-Resources Questionnaire (JD-RQ), Technostress Creators Scale, and Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI). Data analysis was conducted using the Spearman Rank Correlation test with a significance level of 0.05. The results showed a significant and strong positive relationship between job demands and burnout, with a p-value = 0.001 and a correlation coefficient of r = 0.750. In addition, a significant and strong positive relationship was also found between technostress and burnout, with a p-value = 0.001 and a correlation coefficient of r = 0.687. High job demands and technostress were associated with increased burnout. The company is advised to strengthen burnout prevention efforts by optimizing workload evaluations that take actual working conditions into account, providing regular training on the use of digital systems, and enhancing employee recovery initiatives through the optimal utilization of annual leave and better management of work-related communication outside working hours.
This study aims to address an important gap in the literature by examining the effects of technostress and safety climate on employees' technological productivity and by evaluating the moderating role of perceived organizational support in these relationships.Analyses conducted on survey data collected from 425 employees working in the defense industry reveal that technostress has a significant negative effect on technological productivity, whereas safety climate has a positive effect on technological productivity.The findings further indicate that perceived organizational support moderates the relationship between safety climate and technological productivity, strengthening the positive impact of safety climate on technological productivity.However, perceived organizational support does not exhibit a significant moderating effect on the relationship between technostress and technological productivity.By examining technostress, safety climate, and perceived organizational support-constructs that are rarely addressed together in the literature-within an integrated framework, this study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of technological productivity.Furthermore, its focus on the defense industry, characterized by high-technology intensity and high reliability requirements, fills an important gap in the literature and provides actionable insights for improving employee well-being, safety, and technological productivity.
While Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become undeniably important in modern sales management, scholarly focus has remained disproportionately fixed on productivity and efficiency outcomes rather than mental health and wellness. This paper addresses that imbalance by examining the impact of AI-coaching on salesperson well-being. After exploring the limited scholarship available, we incorporate the theory of tools to scrutinize when AI is ready-to-hand (where the tool is transparently integrated), unready-to-hand (where the tool fails), and present-at-hand (where the user analytically observes the tool’s properties). The primary contribution of this work is a comprehensive future research agenda that moves beyond performance metrics to investigate the lived experience of salespeople and possible well-being outcomes, both positive and negative. The agenda identifies four critical dimensions—the user, the tool, the delivery, and the context—as potential moderators in the framework. This manuscript is a call to action for researchers to investigate how AI-coaching can be implemented as a catalyst for employee empowerment rather than a source of technostress and burnout for salespeople and sales managers.
در حالی که هوش مصنوعی (AI) به طور غیرقابل انکاری در مدیریت فروش مدرن اهمیت یافته است، تمرکز پژوهشی به طور نامتناسبی بر پیامدهای بهرهوری و کارایی باقی مانده و به سلامت روان و بهزیستی توجه کمتری شده است. این مقاله به منظور رفع این عدم توازن، به بررسی تأثیر مربیگری مبتنی بر هوش مصنوعی بر بهزیستی فروشندگان میپردازد. پس از مرور پژوهشهای محدود موجود، نظریه ابزارها را به کار میگیریم تا بررسی کنیم که چه زمانی هوش مصنوعی «آماده به کار» است (ابزاری که به طور شفاف یکپارچه شده است)، «آماده به کار نیست» (ابزاری که دچار نقص میشود)، و «حاضر در دست» (زمانی که کاربر به طور تحلیلی ویژگیهای ابزار را مشاهده میکند). مهمترین دستاورد این پژوهش، ارائه یک دستور کار جامع برای تحقیقات آینده است که فراتر از سنجههای عملکردی، به تجربه زیسته فروشندگان و پیامدهای بهزیستی، اعم از مثبت و منفی، میپردازد. این دستور کار چهار بُعد کلیدی—کاربر، ابزار، شیوه ارائه و زمینه—را به عنوان تعدیلگرهای احتمالی در این چارچوب شناسایی میکند. این مقاله فراخوانی است برای پژوهشگران تا بررسی کنند که چگونه مربیگری مبتنی بر هوش مصنوعی میتواند به عنوان محرکی برای توانمندسازی کارکنان اجرا شود و نه منبعی برای تکنواسترس و فرسودگی شغلی در میان فروشندگان و مدیران فروش.
Abstract The rapid deployment of point-of-sale technologies (connected payment terminals, inventory management software, video surveillance devices, self-checkout systems and real-time reporting tools) is profoundly transforming the work of cashiers in the retail sector. Although these tools are intended to streamline commercial operations, they also expose cashiers to an increased cognitive and emotional burden, commonly referred to as technostress. At the same time, the phenomenon of quiet quitting, understood as a discreet withdrawal of engagement beyond the formal requirements of the job, has become a major concern for human resource management in customer-facing occupations. This article proposes an integrative theoretical framework, grounded in Hobfoll's conservation of resources theory and the job demands-resources model, to examine the relationship between perceived techno-stress and quiet quitting among cashiers, with particular attention to the mediating role of psychological resilience. We formulate a set of testable hypotheses and discuss their theoretical and managerial implications. Expected findings suggest that psychological resilience constitutes a personal resource capable of buffering the detrimental effect of techno-stress on behavioral disengagement, paving the way for organizational interventions focused on strengthening the adaptive capacities of frontline employees. Keywords technostress; quiet quitting; psychological resilience; cashiers; conservation of resources theory; mediation
استقرار سریع فناوریهای نقطه فروش (پایانههای پرداخت متصل، نرمافزارهای مدیریت موجودی، دستگاههای نظارت تصویری، سامانههای خودپرداخت و ابزارهای گزارشدهی لحظهای) بهطور عمیقی کار صندوقداران در بخش خردهفروشی را دگرگون کرده است. اگرچه این ابزارها با هدف تسهیل عملیات تجاری طراحی شدهاند، اما صندوقداران را در معرض بار شناختی و هیجانی فزایندهای قرار میدهند که معمولاً به آن فشار فناورانه گفته میشود. همزمان، پدیده کنارهگیری خاموش که بهعنوان کنارهگیری تدریجی و نامحسوس از مشارکت فراتر از الزامات رسمی شغل درک میشود، به دغدغهای اساسی برای مدیریت منابع انسانی در مشاغل مواجهه با مشتری بدل شده است. این مقاله چارچوب نظری تلفیقی مبتنی بر نظریه حفاظت از منابع هابفول و مدل تقاضا-منابع شغلی را برای بررسی رابطه بین فشار فناورانه ادراکشده و کنارهگیری خاموش در میان صندوقداران با تأکید ویژه بر نقش میانجیگری تابآوری روانشناختی ارائه میدهد. مجموعهای از فرضیههای قابل آزمون تدوین شده و پیامدهای نظری و مدیریتی آنها مورد بحث قرار میگیرد. یافتههای مورد انتظار نشان میدهد که تابآوری روانشناختی بهعنوان یک منبع فردی میتواند اثرات زیانبار فشار فناورانه بر کنارهگیری رفتاری را تعدیل کند و زمینه را برای مداخلات سازمانی با هدف تقویت ظرفیتهای سازشی کارکنان خط مقدم فراهم سازد.
With the digitization of education, the use of information technology (IT) at work has become a requirement for teachers, rather than an option. However, IT is a double-edged sword that brings teachers great benefits and additional challenges (e.g., technostress). The present study employed a mixed-methods design to understand context-specific technostress creators and their associations with cognitive appraisal outcomes and IT use behaviors among teachers. Phase 1 identified six technostress creators—unreliability (UNR), role conflict, teaching interruption (TI), work overload (WO), information overload (IO), and technology integration (TIG)—through semi-structured interviews with 20 teachers. Phase 2 was conducted to empirically examine how technostress creators influence teachers’ IT use behaviors (i.e., innovative use [IU] and avoidant use) through cognitive appraisal outcomes. The results from structural equation modeling involving 265 Chinese teachers demonstrated that teachers tend to appraise unreliability, role conflict, and teaching interruption as threats, but appraise work overload and technology integration as challenges. Moreover, challenge appraisal is likely to stimulate innovative IT use and decrease avoidant IT use, while threat appraisal (TA) increases avoidant IT use. The findings extended the literature related to IT research by identifying context-specific technostress creators and linking them to IT use among teachers.
با دیجیتالیشدن آموزش، استفاده از فناوری اطلاعات (IT) در محیط کار برای معلمان به یک الزام تبدیل شده است و دیگر یک گزینه اختیاری نیست. با این حال، فناوری اطلاعات یک شمشیر دو لبه است که برای معلمان مزایای فراوان و همچنین چالشهای اضافی (مانند تکنواسترس) به همراه دارد. پژوهش حاضر با بهرهگیری از طرح آمیختهروش به منظور درک عوامل ایجادکننده تکنواسترس خاص بافت و ارتباط آنها با پیامدهای ارزیابی شناختی و رفتارهای استفاده از فناوری اطلاعات در میان معلمان انجام شد. در مرحله اول، شش عامل ایجادکننده تکنواسترس شامل عدم قابلیت اطمینان (UNR)، تعارض نقش، اختلال در تدریس (TI)، اضافهبار کاری (WO)، اضافهبار اطلاعاتی (IO) و یکپارچهسازی فناوری (TIG) از طریق مصاحبههای نیمهساختاریافته با ۲۰ معلم شناسایی شد. مرحله دوم به منظور بررسی تجربی نحوه تأثیرگذاری عوامل ایجادکننده تکنواسترس بر رفتارهای استفاده از فناوری اطلاعات معلمان (یعنی استفاده نوآورانه [IU] و استفاده اجتنابی) از طریق پیامدهای ارزیابی شناختی انجام شد. نتایج مدلیابی معادلات ساختاری با مشارکت ۲۶۵ معلم چینی نشان داد که معلمان تمایل دارند عدم قابلیت اطمینان، تعارض نقش و اختلال در تدریس را به عنوان تهدید ارزیابی کنند، اما اضافهبار کاری و یکپارچهسازی فناوری را به عنوان چالش ارزیابی میکنند. افزون بر این، ارزیابی چالش احتمالاً موجب تحریک استفاده نوآورانه از فناوری اطلاعات و کاهش استفاده اجتنابی از آن میشود، در حالی که ارزیابی تهدید (TA) استفاده اجتنابی از فناوری اطلاعات را افزایش میدهد. یافتهها با شناسایی عوامل ایجادکننده تکنواسترس خاص بافت و پیوند دادن آنها با استفاده از فناوری اطلاعات در میان معلمان، ادبیات مرتبط با پژوهشهای فناوری اطلاعات را گسترش داده است.
Introduction The increasing integration of digital and artificial intelligence-supported systems into sport organizations has transformed managerial processes such as performance monitoring, evaluation, planning, scheduling, and decision-making. This study examined the association between algorithmic management and technostress among sport science professionals and investigated the moderating role of techno-related control. Methods A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed with 372 sport science professionals working in sport-related organizations where digital or AI-supported systems were used to perform or support managerial functions. Algorithmic management was assessed using the Algorithmic Management Questionnaire, technostress was measured using the Turkish version of the Technostress Creators Scale, and techno-related control was assessed using the Techno-related Control subscale of the Technology-Related Moderator Scale. The measurement model was evaluated through confirmatory factor analysis, and the hypothesized moderation model was tested using Hayes’ PROCESS Macro Model 1. Results Algorithmic management was positively associated with technostress (B = 0.38, p < 0.001), whereas techno-related control was negatively associated with technostress (B = −0.17, p < 0.001). In addition, the interaction between algorithmic management and techno-related control was negative and statistically significant (B = −0.12, SE = 0.038, p = 0.002, 95% CI [−0.19, −0.05]). The interaction explained an additional 2.1% of the variance in technostress (ΔR² = 0.021), indicating that the positive association between algorithmic management and technostress became weaker as techno-related control increased. Discussion These findings suggest that techno-related control may represent a meaningful, although modest, boundary condition in the relationship between algorithmic management and technostress and may help explain differences in how sport science professionals experience technology-mediated managerial demands.
مقدمه: ادغام فزاینده سامانههای دیجیتال و مبتنی بر هوش مصنوعی در سازمانهای ورزشی، فرایندهای مدیریتی نظیر پایش عملکرد، ارزیابی، برنامهریزی، زمانبندی و تصمیمگیری را دگرگون ساخته است. این مطالعه به بررسی ارتباط بین مدیریت الگوریتمی و تکنواسترس در میان متخصصان علوم ورزشی پرداخت و نقش تعدیلگری کنترل مرتبط با فناوری را مورد بررسی قرار داد. روشها: یک طرح کمی مقطعی با مشارکت ۳۷۲ متخصص علوم ورزشی شاغل در سازمانهای مرتبط با ورزش که در آنها سامانههای دیجیتال یا مبتنی بر هوش مصنوعی برای انجام یا پشتیبانی از وظایف مدیریتی به کار گرفته میشود، اجرا شد. مدیریت الگوریتمی با استفاده از پرسشنامه مدیریت الگوریتمی، تکنواسترس با نسخه ترکی استانبولی مقیاس ایجادکنندگان تکنواسترس، و کنترل مرتبط با فناوری با زیرمقیاس کنترل مرتبط با فناوری از مقیاس تعدیلگر مرتبط با فناوری ارزیابی شد. مدل اندازهگیری از طریق تحلیل عاملی تأییدی ارزیابی شد و مدل فرضی تعدیلگری با استفاده از مدل ۱ ماکروی PROCESS Hayes آزمون گردید. یافتهها: مدیریت الگوریتمی با تکنواسترس رابطه مثبت داشت (B = 0.38, p < 0.001)، در حالی که کنترل مرتبط با فناوری با تکنواسترس رابطه منفی داشت (B = −0.17, p < 0.001). همچنین، تعامل بین مدیریت الگوریتمی و کنترل مرتبط با فناوری منفی و از لحاظ آماری معنادار بود (B = −0.12, SE = 0.038, p = 0.002, 95% CI [−0.19, −0.05]). این تعامل ۲.۱٪ واریانس اضافی تکنواسترس را تبیین کرد (ΔR² = 0.021)، که نشان میدهد با افزایش کنترل مرتبط با فناوری، ارتباط مثبت بین مدیریت الگوریتمی و تکنواسترس تضعیف میشود. بحث: این یافتهها نشان میدهد که کنترل مرتبط با فناوری میتواند به عنوان یک شرط مرزی معنادار، هرچند نسبتاً کوچک، در رابطه بین مدیریت الگوریتمی و تکنواسترس مطرح باشد و به تبیین تفاوتهای تجربه متخصصان علوم ورزشی از الزامات مدیریتی مبتنی بر فناوری کمک کند.
