Work-related use of information and communication technologies and error admission: The roles of emotional exhaustion and person–organization fit

Abstract

We examined the effects of work-related use of information and communication technologies after hours (W_ICTs) by applying the job demands–resources model and person–environment fit theory. Our focus was on the mechanism of the impact of W_ICTs on employees' nonwork time error admission, the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion, and the moderating effect of person–organization fit. We used experience sampling to make repeated measurements at different time points to obtain the dynamic variation of the variables. There were 55 participants who completed online questionnaires for 10 consecutive workdays, resulting in 1,035 valid questionnaires for analysis. We found that employees' daily W_ICTs had significant negative effects on their error admission, and significant positive effects on their emotional exhaustion. Further, emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between W_ICTs and error admission, and person–organization fit negatively moderated the relationship between emotional exhaustion and error admission.