Technostress and counterproductive behaviours in an organisation

Paweł Kot

doi:10.47577/tssj.v27i1.5446

Abstract

Work can be a place where we experience stress. In recent years, employees exposed to work with the use of information and communication technologies have reported symptoms of technostress. In turn, such frustration may lead to various negative and ineffective behaviours at work. The aim of the study was to analyse the links between technostress and counterproductive behaviours (theft, fraud, withdrawal and sabotage). 676 employees (including 50.9% women) aged 20 to 63 (M = 41.04; SD = 13.46) using ICT on a daily basis were surveyed. The study used the Counterproductive Behaviours Questionnaire and the Technostress Creators and Technostress Inhibitors Scale. The obtained results confirmed a positive relationship between Technostress creators and counterproductive behaviours and a negative relationship between Technostress inhibitors and counterproductive behaviours. These results can be used in organisations to minimize the risk of counterproductive behaviours by counteracting the occurrence of Technostress creators and reinforcing Technostress inhibitors.

Highlights

Professional work is a very important aspect of human life
Occupational stress is considered a serious problem in contemporary organisations and more and more people report that they experience stress at work (Stranks, 2005; Ulrich et al, 2007; Beattie & Griffin, 2014)
This study aims to answer the question: what is the relationship between technostress and counterproductive behaviours? This search is expressed by the following hypotheses (H1): There is a positive relationship between

Summary

Introduction

People get a lot of satisfaction from their work (Fassoulis & Alexopoulos, 2015; Cross, 2019), they experience work-related stress. Occupational stress is considered a serious problem in contemporary organisations and more and more people report that they experience stress at work (Stranks, 2005; Ulrich et al, 2007; Beattie & Griffin, 2014). European public opinion polls reveal that as many as 73% of European employees report experiencing work-related stress at least once a month, and 16% struggle with stress every day and consider changing jobs. In Poland, 22% of employees claim that they experience stress every day (Milczarek et al, 2016). The most common causes of work-related stress include: type of tasks performed by employees (e.g. monotony or complexity), work intensity, excessive demands, overload of duties or changing working conditions (EU-OSHA & Eurofound, 2014)

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Conclusion