Coping with Technostress : When Emotional Responses Fail

Abstract

In this study, we develop two new perspectives for technostress mitigation from the viewpoint of coping. First, we examine users’ emotional coping responses to stressful IT, focusing specifically on distress venting and distancing from IT. As these mechanisms may not always be effective for individuals’ well-being, we extend our approach to self-regulation in coping, which concerns general stress-resistance. Thus, we specifically study how IT control moderates the effect of emotional coping responses to stressful situations involving IT use. We test the proposed model in a cross-sectional study of IT users from multiple organizations (N=1,091). The study contributes to information systems literature by uncovering mechanisms individuals’ can use to mitigate the negative effects of technostress and by delineating the less-understood perspective of interrelated coping mechanisms; how emotional coping responses are moderated by IT control towards more favorable outcomes. Implications of the research are discussed.