Technostress, Work-home Boundary, and Emotional Exhaustion During the Crisis of COVID-19

Abstract

Since the start of the pandemic, many employees have not been able to work in the usual way due to restrictions imposed by national and local governments to control COVID-19. This made technologies that support home working a critical factor for organizations to weather the crisis. However, solutions to this form of work-home invasion may depend on different levels of employees’ work-home boundaries and boundary tactics. Positive or successful adaptions toward the work-home spillover (e.g., high level of psychological detachment) may minimize employees’ perceived negative effects. On the other hand, negative or failed adaptions or strategies toward the work-home spillover may increase negative consequences for employees’ well-being (e.g., high level of emotional exhaustion). This study investigates the relationships between positive and negative adaption techniques and well-being and their implications for the organizations and employees in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly, we evaluate the relationship among technostress, work-home boundary, psychological detachment, and emotional exhaustion. Findings reveal that psychological detachment mediates the relationship between technostress and emotional exhaustion. Importantly, results also prove that when the boundary strength at home partially mediates the relationship between technostress and emotional exhaustion, psychological detachment could moderate the impact of technostress on emotional exhaustion. We examine the implications of these findings for both organizations and HR professionals working in the COVID-19 pandemic.