Taking on the “Dark Side” : Coping With Technostress

Abstract

Technostress is stress that individuals experience due to their use of information technology. It is associated with critical workplace consequences including reduced productivity. While the negative consequences are well known, what is less understood is how individuals can cope with technostress to alleviate them. We report on two studies that explain how organizational IT users can cope with technostress. The first is a qualitative study conducted in the U.K., by interviewing thirty executives/knowledge workers. Here, we identified seven coping behaviors that individuals engage in, in response to technostress. The second is a survey of 846 U.S. employees who use IT in their workplace. Here, we examined the effects of these coping behaviors on the relationship between technostress creating conditions and the individual's IT-enabled productivity. We interpret our results to explain how employees and organizations can tackle technostress.