Communication Overload Research Articles

FRAST: TFHE-Friendly Cipher Based on Random S-Boxes

A transciphering framework, also known as hybrid homomorphic encryption, is a practical method of combining a homomorphic encryption (HE) scheme with a symmetric cipher in the client-server model to reduce computational and communication overload on the client side. As a server homomorphically evaluates a symmetric cipher in this framework, new design rationales are required for “HE-friendly” ciphers that take into account the specific properties of the HE schemes. In this paper, we propose a new TFHE-friendly cipher, dubbed FRAST, with a TFHE-friendly round function based on a random S-box to minimize the number of rounds. The round function of FRAST can be efficiently evaluated in TFHE by a new optimization technique, dubbed double blind rotation. Combined with our new WoP-PBS method, the double blind rotation allows computing multiple S-box calls in the round function of FRAST at the cost of a single S-box call. In this way, FRAST enjoys 2.768 (resp. 10.57) times higher throughput compared to Kreyvium (resp. Elisabeth) for TFHE keystream evaluation in the offline phase of the transciphering framework at the cost of slightly larger communication overload.

The Effect of Communication Overload, Information Overload, and Exhaustion on Student’s Learning Productivity

The Effect of Communication Overload, Information Overload, and Exhaustion on Student’s Learning Productivity

The impact of social and work-related social media usage on job performance

This study aims to analyze the impact of social and work-related social media usage on job performance, both directly and indirectly, mediated by knowledge sharing and job satisfaction. The research employs a quantitative method, with respondents comprising lecturers from private universities in Malang City, Indonesia. The sample size, determined using Slovin's formula, consists of 351 respondents. Data collection was conducted through questionnaires, and the relationships between variables were analyzed using PLS with the SmartPLS application. The hypothesis analysis results indicate that social-related social media usage does not affect knowledge sharing but positively influences job satisfaction and job performance. Work-related social media usage has a significant positive relationship with knowledge sharing, job satisfaction, and job performance. Knowledge sharing cannot mediate the relationship between social-related social media usage and job performance. However, job satisfaction can mediate the relationship between these variables. Knowledge sharing and job satisfaction significantly positively mediate the relationship between work-related social media usage and job performance. The results of this study provide insights for higher education leaders regarding the management of social media in higher education institutions, emphasizing both social and work-related social media usage. Both have different impacts, especially on knowledge sharing. Policies to restrict social-related social media usage during work hours are necessary because informal communication can disrupt concentration during work, communication overload can also occur due to excessive unplanned communication, and echo chambers can result in minority lecturers engaging more in knowledge hiding.

Digital stress among Chinese adolescents: a focus group study

Introduction. Current digital stress studies among teenagers overlooked a population with distinct societal and cultural characteristics: Chinese teenagers. This paper reports differences in Chinese adolescents’ attitudes towards components of digital stress and presents two novel stressors. Method. This study investigated 74 participants in three senior high schools (grade 10 - grade 12) in China via focus group interviews. Transcripts of the interviews were used for analysis. Analysis. Qualitative analysis was used for this study. The software MAXQDA for Qualitative Data Analysis (Version 22.7.0, 2022) was used for the analysis steps. Result. The analysis reveals differences in Chinese adolescents’ attitudes towards components of digital stress in terms of online vigilance and communication overload. In addition, two novel stressors - the obligated use of learning features in social media and perceived social issues from media or news applications – were identified. Conclusion. Digital stress among Chinese adolescents was significantly different compared to the extant digital stress framework. Such differences were both manifested in better tolerance of certain stressors (e.g. online vigilance or information overload) and in the emergence of novel stressors, such as obligation resentment and social concerns.

How perceived overload leads to WeChat passive usage intention: the mediating roles of social network exhaustion and discontented feeling

PurposeThe principal purposes of the research are to empirically investigate three forms of perceived overload on social media and shed light on their associations with users’ passive usage intention by contemplating the mediating influence of social network exhaustion and discontented feelings.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a cross-sectional methodology to collect statistical data (N = 679) from WeChat users in mainland China. Primitive analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were employed to test the corresponding hypotheses.FindingsThe findings reveal that three dimensions of perceived overload influence social network exhaustion positively. In addition, communication overload and system feature overload exert positive impacts on the discontented feeling. Furthermore, it is uncovered that social network exhaustion and discontented feeling are related to passive usage intention positively.Research limitations/implicationsTheoretically, this paper offers a conceptual framework to explicate passive usage intention through elucidating social network exhaustion and the discontented feeling that arises from perceived overload in contemporary social media-mediated environments. Practically, the current research has certain realistic implications for WeChat users and SNS operators.Originality/valueProbing what triggers people’s passive usage intention of social media has been an emerging theme in recent years, yet there is a dearth of discourse that delves into the antecedents of WeChat users’ passive usage intention. The results obtained from the study have enhanced the understanding of the adverse consequences associated with the utilization of social media in mainland China.

Disentangling user fatigue in WeChat use: the configurational interplay of fear of missing out and overload

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine how the interplay of stressor (e.g. fear of missing out, FoMO) and strains (e.g. perceived social overload, communication overload, information overload and system feature overload) in social networking sites (SNS) use can contribute to users’ SNS fatigue from a configurational view.Design/methodology/approachData were collected among 363 SNS users in China via an online survey, and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was applied in this study to scrutinize the different combinations of FoMO and overload that contribute to the same outcome of SNS fatigue.FindingsSix combinations of casual conditions were identified to underlie SNS fatigue. The results showed that FoMO, perceived information overload and system feature overload are the core conditions that contribute to SNS fatigue when combined with other types of overloads.Originality/valueThe current work supplements the research findings on SNS fatigue by identifying the configurations contributing to SNS fatigue from the joint effects of stressor (FoMO) and strain (perceived social overload, communication overload, information overload and system feature overload) and by providing explanations for SNS fatigue from the configurational perspective.

Organizational Behaviour insights: Examining dynamics of Workplace Culture and Employee Interaction in Modern Organizations

This study delves into the multifaceted discipline of organizational behavior (OB), focusing on how modern organizations can optimize workplace culture, employee interactions, and overall effectiveness through strategic management of human dynamics. Central to this investigation are the impacts of leadership styles, workplace culture, technology integration, and corporate social responsibility on employee engagement and organizational productivity. By employing a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods including surveys, interviews, focus groups, and case studies—the research provides comprehensive insights into the factors that contribute to a thriving organizational environment. Statistical and thematic analyses reveal the critical role of inclusive and adaptive workplace cultures in enhancing employee satisfaction and driving organizational success. The study also examines the dual-edged nature of technology in the workplace, highlighting its potential to either streamline operations and promote flexibility or contribute to challenges such as communication overload and diminished work-life balance. Leadership is identified as a key driver in shaping organizational culture and effectively managing change, with a particular emphasis on the need for leaders to adopt empathetic and transformational leadership styles. Furthermore, the research underscores the significance of corporate social responsibility initiatives in bolstering organizational reputation and employee loyalty. The findings suggest that modern organizations must adopt a holistic approach to OB, integrating strategic management practices across various domains to foster an environment that not only advances business objectives but also supports employee well-being and development. This comprehensive approach is essential for sustaining long-term organizational resilience and competitiveness in a rapidly evolving business landscape.

An Overview of Information Overload, System Feature Overload, Social Overload and Communication Overload

Social media has faced difficulties in recent years due to users ceasing to use them, but little is known about the relationships between the various aspects of overload and how this negatively impacts users' social media exhaustion. Additionally, it described social media overload as a multidimensional construct made up of four types of overloads: information overload, system feature overload, social overload and communication overload. This investigation will be conducted among Malaysian Facebook users through online surveying techniques along with a quantitative approach with the sample size of 74 using non-probability sampling approaches then will be analysed using the IBM SPSS.

The effects of negative social media connotations on subjective wellbeing of an ageing population: A stressor-strain-outcome perspective.

In recent years, users' privacy concerns and reluctance to use have posed a challenge for the social media and wellbeing of its users. There is a paucity of research on elderly users' negative connotations of social media and the way these connotations contribute to developing passive behaviour towards social media use, which, in turn, affects subjective wellbeing. To address this research vacuum we employed the stressor-strain-outcome (SSO) approach to describe the evolution of passive social media use behaviour from the perspective of communication overload, complexity, and privacy. We conceptualized subjective wellbeing as a combination of three components-negative feelings, positive feelings, and life satisfaction. Negative and positive feelings were used to derive an overall affect balance score that fluctuates between 'unhappiest possible' and 'happiest possible'. The proposed research framework was empirically validated through 399 valid responses from elderly social media users. Our findings reveal that communication overload and complexity raise privacy concerns among social media users, which leads to passive usage of social media. This passive social media use improved the subjective wellbeing favourably by lowering negative feelings and raising positive feelings and life satisfaction. The findings also revealed that respondents' overall affect balance leans towards positive feelings as a consequence of passive social media use. This study contributes to the field of technostress by illuminating how the SSO perspective aid the comprehension of the way passive social media use influences the subjective wellbeing of its users.

Social media overload and proactive–reactive innovation behaviour: A TTSC framework perspective

Based on the transactional theory of stress and coping, a theoretical model of social media overload and employees’ proactive–reactive innovation behaviour is constructed, in which emotional exhaustion and knowledge hiding serve as mediating variables, and the intrinsic mechanism of action among the variables is explained based on the conservation of resources theory. Study 1 tested the research model using data from 376 internal corporate social media users and their leaders. The results show that emotional exhaustion and knowledge hiding play a chain-mediating role between social media overload (information, communication, and social overload) and employees’ proactive and reactive innovation behaviours. Study 2 repeated Study 1′s hypothesis test using data from 406 internal corporate social media users. Most conclusions are consistent with Study 1, except that the relationships between communication overload and emotional exhaustion and between knowledge hiding and proactive innovation behaviour are not supported. These inconsistent conclusions may be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. Study 2 revealed the moderating role of digital fluency. This study enriches the research on the dark side of social media use, expands the research perspective on social media overload, and provides new support for employees’ proactive–reactive innovation behaviours.

Mechanism study of social media overload on health self-efficacy and anxiety

Previous studies have found that people's excessive use of social media may have a negative impact on their crisis coping skills. This study focuses on the effects of social media overload (information overload, communication overload and social overload) on anxiety and health self-efficacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study used an online questionnaire and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to obtain data (816 valid samples), analyze the data and validate the model. The findings revealed that social media overload (information overload, communication overload and social overload) triggers increased social media fatigue, which in turn leads to the development of anxiety and the consequence of diminished health self-efficacy; social media fatigue plays a partially mediating role between social media and health self-efficacy and a fully mediating role between communication overload and health self-efficacy. The results of this study can inform the development of crisis communication strategies during public health emergencies.

The Mediating Effect of Perceived Ease of Use on the Relationship Between Communication Overload and Job Performance

While developments in information and communication technology have made access to information easier and faster, they can also bring about unique challenges. Communication overload is one of these challenges. The aim of this research is to examine the interaction between communication overload and job performance from the perspective of employees and to investigate the mediating effect of perceived ease of use related to information and communication technology in this relationship. The research was conducted by collecting data through survey among Karabük University employees in 2023. Data obtained from 408 employees of Karabük University were analyzed using SPSS 26 software package. The relationships between variables were examined using Pearson Correlation test, and the mediating effect was analyzed through multiple regression analyses. The research results revealed a weak negative relationship between communication overload and job performance as well as a strong positive relationship between perceived ease of use and job performance. The results of the multiple regression analysis indicate that perceived ease of use plays a mediating role in the relationship between communication overload and job performance.

Hospital nurses’ communication overload and obstacles to risk and safety communication: The role of mandating

Hospital nurses encounter a demanding workplace. Advancements in technology and continued staffing shortages increase and complicate the communication and organizational expectations and restrictions placed upon hospital nurses, although the organizational resources and support nurses are offered can remain unchanged, or worse, diminish. This study explores nurses’ experiences of workplace communication overload (CO), and their interpretations of how CO occurs alongside obstacles to risk and safety communication —a vital form of communication in hospital work. Using a combination of semi-structured, narrative interviews (N = 12) and focus groups (N = 8, 26 participants), and driven by a theoretical conceptualization of CO, this study reveals that the most fundamental obstacle to nurses’ risk and safety communication at work is the practice of mandating. When nurses are mandated, they are forced towork overtime, exceeding the number of hours agreed upon in their contracts, due to (continued) staffing shortages. Nurses explain that mandating, as a routine organizational practice, creates general states of feeling overwhelmed in everyday work life, which is a central theoretical dimension of CO. This state of feeling overwhelmed strips nurses of their patience and cognitive capacity to adequately process and respond to incoming risk and safety messages, and/or grasp their level of importance. Study implications are offered.

Enabling and Inhibiting Factors of the Continuous Use of Mobile Short Video APP: Satisfaction and Fatigue as Mediating Variables Respectively.

The short video APP has entered the stage of competition for stock, making it crucial to keep users engaged in their APP to promote continuous usage. Previous studies on the continuous use intention of mobile short video APP were relatively limited, with most studies focusing only on promoting factors. Therefore, based on the dual-factor theory of "enabling-inhibiting", and drawing on the Information System Continuance Model (ECM-ISC) and Cognitive Load Theory, this study extracted two variables, satisfaction and fatigue, to construct an integrated model to explore their enabling and inhibiting effects on continuous use intention. This study selected TikTok APP users as the respondents, obtained 681 valid questionnaires and analyzed with structural equation modeling (SEM) using SPSS24.0 and Amos23.0 software. The study investigated the factors that influence users' continuous use intention of short video APP. It shows that in enabling mechanism, perceived usefulness and social influence will increase user satisfaction and thus promote their continuous use intention, and perceived playfulness has a direct effect on the continuous use intention. In inhibiting mechanism, information overload and communication overload are positively correlated with emotional fatigue, which further reduces the continuous use intention. Based on the dual-factor theory of "enabling-inhibiting", the study established an integration model to more comprehensively reveal the impact mechanism of short video APP users' continuous use intention. The study found that the fatigue caused by information and communication overload can inhibit users' continuous use intention of short video APP. Therefore, to improve users' continuous use intention, short video APP should not only increase users' satisfaction but also reduce the fatigue caused by overload.

Efficient dynamic multi-client searchable encryption supporting fuzzy search

Searchable symmetric encryption (SSE) enables the client to outsource its encrypted database to the untrusted server, while maintaining the ability to efficiently search over it. However, most of the existing solutions focus mainly on exact keyword search. That is, it will fail to fetch the desired result even though mild typos. To this end, SSE with fuzzy keyword search has attracted considerable concerns in the literature. We note that the current works support merely single-client setting. How to design fuzzy keyword search-based SSE scheme in the multi-client setting is still open. In this work, we first introduce a dynamic multi-client fuzzy keyword search scheme by employing Intel SGX, which can achieve forward privacy at the expense of multiple trapdoors communication. The proposed construction can reduce client-side computation and communication overload with the aid of Intel SGX. Furthermore, we present an enhanced multi-client fuzzy keyword search scheme that achieves forward privacy even in the presence of the corrupted user. The evaluation of security and efficiency indicates that our schemes are capable of meeting the desired security level and are well-suited for real-world applications.

A Game-Based Incentive-Driven Offloading Framework for Dispersed Computing

The popularization of smart Internet of Things (IoT) devices has facilitated the development of fog/edge computing. However, these infrastructure-based service paradigms may fail to complete tasks successfully due to computation and communication overload, or damage in challenging scenarios such as disasters or traffic jams. Noticing that a crowd of devices with considerable idle resources could be available, we investigate the problems of addressing the computation and communication unavailability with peer assistance in this work. To this end, we propose a dispersed service framework for resource-exhausted scenarios that adaptively offloads users’ data to available network computation points. However, the users may not be able to achieve the offloading due to geographical hindrances. Consequently, the relay is introduced as a bridge for data offloading between the users and the network computation points. Furthermore, a game-based incentive-driven offloading mechanism is designed by analyzing and balancing the cost and gain factors of three main entities (users, relays, and network computation points). Considering the interactions among the entities, a two-level Stackelberg game is established for efficiently allocating potential computation resource, as well as balancing the utility conflicts due to the data offloading. Given the hierarchical interaction structure, the upper level game involves network computation points as followers and the relay as a leader, while the lower level game includes the relay as a follower and users as leaders. Moreover, to facilitate applicability in large-scale scenarios with multiple relays, we decompose multiple relays into multiple single relay problems using a tripartite matching strategy that assigns appropriate relays to users and network computation points. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed game-based incentive-driven mechanism and show that it outperforms the baselines in terms of the overall utilities of the involved entities and the average energy consumption of users.

Refined fault tolerant tracking control of fixed-wing UAVs via fractional calculus and interval type-2 fuzzy neural network under event-triggered communication

The refined fault tolerant tracking control (FTTC) scheme is developed for multiple fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) against actuator faults and wind effects under event-triggered communication. To decrease the communication overload caused by the continuous information transmissions among neighboring UAVs, an event-triggered communication mechanism is incorporated to dynamically reduce and increase the triggering frequency at the pre-fault and post-fault phases, respectively, thus reducing the communication burden while ensuring the synchronization tracking performance of faulty UAVs. Moreover, refined FTTC performance with event-triggered communications can be achieved by skillfully invoking fractional-order calculus. Furthermore, interval type-2 fuzzy neural networks with fractional-order adaptive modulation factors are constructed to compensate for the unknown nonlinearities. Lyapunov stability analysis has revealed that all attitudes can synchronously track their references. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate that communication resource-saving refined FTTC performance can be guaranteed with different fractional-order operators.

Event-Triggered Networked Predictive Output Tracking Control of Cyber–Physical Systems With Model Uncertainty and Communication Constraints

This brief investigates the output tracking control problem of cyber-physical systems with model uncertainty and random communication constraints. An event-triggered networked predictive output tracking control method is presented to actively compensate random communication constraints in the two-channel, namely the feedback channel and forward channel. To handle the communication overload issue caused by communication constraints in networked predictive control approach, two kinds of event-triggered mechanisms are designed in both sensor and controller to save network resources. Then, the stability conditions of closed-loop systems with model certainty and uncertainty cases are derived. Finally, numerical simulation is performed to verify the effectiveness of presented method.

Unraveling the Influential Mechanisms of Social Commerce Overloads on User Disengagement: The Buffer Effect of Guanxi.

Although user engagement has been paid increasing attention, the work on user disengagement is scarce, and little is understood about how overloads elicited by excessive social commerce activities affect user disengagement. Based on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework and psychological reactance theory (PRT), the authors aimed to investigate the effects of social commerce overloads (SCOs) on user disengagement, its influential mechanism, and the buffer effect of guanxi. The authors conducted an online survey to collect the data and then examined our theoretical model and hypotheses. This study employed SPSS 20.0 software and Amos 24.0 software to examine the hypothesized relationships and the model. Social commerce overloads (ie, information overload (IO), social overload (SO), and communication overload (CO)) positively impact reactance via inferences of manipulative intent (IMI) and compulsive perception (CP); IMI and CP positively influence reactance; IMI, CP, and reactance positively affect user disengagement (ie, neglecting behavior and blocking behavior); guanxi has the buffer effect on the relationship between IMI (CP) and user disengagement, negatively moderates the impacts of IMI on user disengagement (ie, neglecting behavior and blocking behavior), and negatively moderates the effects of CP on blocking behavior but not neglecting behavior. The findings of this study contribute to the literature on PRT and user disengagement by displaying the effects of excessive social commerce activities on user disengagement and uncovering the buffer effect of guanxi, which can help social e-commerce practitioners better reduce the negative effect of social commerce overloads.

Can information and communication overload influence smartphone app users' social network exhaustion, privacy invasion and discontinuance intention? A cognition-affect-conation approach

Thanks to the expansion of network technologies and the coupling of smartphone hardware, younger generations have unparalleled access to a diverse range of information and interactive communication opportunities. Despite voluminous research on the causes of social network exhaustion and privacy invasion, limited academic attention has been devoted to understanding the driving forces and contributing factors for discontinuing usage of smartphone app. Drawing on the cognition-affect-conation paradigm, the present research proposes a conceptual research model to examine how information overload and communication overload effect social network exhaustion, privacy invasion, and ultimately, smartphone app users' intentions to discontinue usage. The study evaluates data from 442 smartphone app users, employing statistical analyses to demonstrate that both information overload and communication overload significantly impact users' exhaustion and privacy invasion. Additionally, social network exhaustion and privacy invasion are two major predictors of smartphone app discontinuance intention. By identifying the influential factors and causes of younger generations' discontinuous usage intention of smartphone app, this study meets the need for a thorough assessment of the social network exhaustion and privacy invasion phenomena. The findings may potentially enhance comprehension of the discontinuation intention phenomenon in the context of cognitive overload. Furthermore, they may provide novel insights for practitioners regarding effective strategies conducive to managing mobile social network adoption behavior, as well as the preservation of engagement levels among young users in mobile-saturated societies.