Technostress inhibitors and creators and their impacts on university teachers’ work performance in higher education

Abstract

This study investigated the relationships among specific technostress inhibitors (literacy facilitation, technical support provision, and involvement facilitation) and creators (techno-overload, techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty) and their impacts on university teachers’ work performance in higher education. Data from 312 university teachers were analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that involvement facilitation, in particular, and technical support provision might have significantly curbing effects on three technostress creators (techno-overload, techno-complexity, and techno-insecurity). However, literacy facilitation as one technostress inhibitor might stimulate the development of technostress creators. As to the effect of technostress on university teachers’ work performance, techno-complexity and techno-insecurity had significant negative influence on their work performance. Nevertheless, techno-overload as one technostress creator was positively associated with their work performance. Meanwhile, literacy facilitation and involvement facilitation demonstrated positive effects on university teachers’ work performance. Additionally, the group comparison between young and senior university teachers suggested that literacy facilitation might more greatly boost two technostress creators (techno-overload and techno-complexity) for senior teachers than young teachers. Nonetheless, no gender difference was observed among university teachers in suffering from technostress. This study’s findings provide evidence-based support for policymakers and information and communication technology (ICT) providers in higher education to develop strategies for effective ICT integration in learning and teaching by accounting for university teachers’ technostress in the use of ICT in their work.