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There has been long‐term interest in the processes that affect human‐computer interaction, particularly those causing stress. Computer related stress has previously been correlated to general stress (Cohen, Kamarack, and Mermelstein 1983) and to somatic complaints (Derogatis et al. 1974). A negative correlation between perceived stress and academic performance has also been documented (Hudiburg and Jones 1991). This study compares computer related stress levels in three business student populations (239 students): juniors who have not begun their major course work, seniors who are MIS majors, and graduate MBA students. Using standard analysis of variance, we found that MIS students experienced a significantly higher number of stressors than the other two groups and a greater average severity of stress than the premajors. Human‐computer interaction is suspected to be more stressful for MIS students than other business students because their use of computers is greater and their grades are more heavily weighted toward computer work. This study further considers the various personality types/learning styles of these students and investigates how they might be accommodated to minimize anxiety. The Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test and a computer assignment preference test were administered to the 239 students. Recommendations for different learner types, in terms of environment variables and computer assignment characteristics, were made.

An empirical study was conducted to investigate predictors of computer anxiety among undergraduate college business students. The effects of academic major, computer‐related experience, gender, and ACT scores on computer anxiety were investigated. The results indicate significant differences in computer anxiety levels among business students with different majors and with different amounts of computer‐related experience. Business students’ ACT scores were also found to have a significant relationship to computer anxiety. A significant difference between male and female business students was not found. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The authors investigated how personality traits are associated with workplace technostress (perception of stressors related to the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

The authors collected 95 self-rated and 336 observer-rated questionnaires using the personality audit and a shortened version of the technostress scale. To analyze relationships between personality dimensions and technostress, the authors applied partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

This study shows that in line with previous studies, self-esteem is negatively related to levels of technostress. Contrary to our expectations, conscientiousness is positively related to technostress. Finally, the gap between a person's self-ratings and observer ratings in all personality dimensions is positively associated with technostress.

The authors showed that the experience of technostress varies significantly amongst individuals. By taking personality differences into account when allocating responsibilities and creating guidelines for ICT use at work, technostress could be addressed. Instead of setting organization-wide norms for availability and use, the authors suggest it would be more effective to acknowledge individual needs and preferences.

This study contributes to current technostress research by further examining antecedents and by focusing on the role of personality. In addition, the authors examined how differences in “self” and “observer” ratings of personality characteristics may point to variations in the way individuals experience technostress. The authors outlined concrete best practice guidelines for ICTs in organizations that take interindividual differences into account.

We have all had experience with the stress caused by an increase in library technology—CD‐ROMs with different user interfaces, online catalogs with different command structures than our CD‐ROMs, and still different protocols for accessing remote databases. Yet, can you imagine the stress that can result from a crash of a local bibliographic and circulation database? I can—because it happened to me.

Rapid technological change has become a fact of life in the libraries of the 1990s. While this change touches all parts of the library organization, nowhere is it more visible, or are its effects more keenly felt, than in reference departments. Consider these “snapshots”—fictional, but real enough:

In this chapter, we use the job demands–resources (JD-R) model (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001) and the transactional model of stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) to provide a theoretical framework with which to examine information and communication technology (ICT) as both a demand and a resource. We review specific characteristics of ICT that may either increase or decrease employee stress and well-being. Specifically, we examine the extent that ICT increases accessibility of workers and access to information, the extent to which it improves communication and control over one's job and life, and the extent to which it is used to monitor employees or provide feedback. Finally, we examine the organizational, job, and individual factors that may mitigate or exacerbate the impact of ICT demands on individual outcomes.

We examine the concepts of stress, distress, and eustress and develop three tenets that are used to relate these concepts to three major theories or models of occupational stress. Selye's concept of eustress or “good stress” appears to be largely ignored in the literature, while the Yerkes Dodson Law is illustrated as a model for management practice. We suggest that the meaning assigned to the word stress has shifted from Selye's original formulation, and that this shift, in conjunction with the use of the Yerkes Dodson Law leads to inappropriate management of stress in organizations. We conclude that the concept that some stress is good and enhances performance should be rejected in favour of more useful and accurate concepts.

To review current knowledge regarding the workplace psychosocial environment including the nature and outcomes of organizational stressors and the effectiveness of workplace stress interventions.

Provides a narrative review of the extant literature and extrapolate findings from the emergent literature on positive psychology.

A great deal is known about the environmental characteristics that cause or contribute to workplace stress. The literature on interventions is more sparse.

Research on the psychosocial environment must move beyond a reliance on cross‐sectional, self‐report data, focus on demonstrating the effectiveness and utility of organizational interventions and expand the domain of psychosocial research to include a more positive focus.

Provides three central propositions for advancing research on the psychosocial environment in organizations.

This paper aims to provide systemic understanding with regard to the adoption of computer mediated communication (CMC) technology and its impact on technostress levels.

Based on the theoretical lens rooted in the psychology literature and emerging problems observed through engagement with organizations in their field research, the authors propose a conceptual model that articulates technology characteristics in telemedicine communication. The model defines both the antecedents and outcomes of technostress, emphasizing investigation of the underlying mechanisms of the overall process in regard to fit between users and adopted technologies.

In order to understand the impact of technostress on telemedicine users, it is necessary to investigate the “black box” of how technology influences stressors. According to the theoretical lens of person‐environment (P‐E) theory, stress occurs when there is a misfit between individuals’ characteristics and environmental settings. Congruent with the premises of the theory, the fit in the authors’ model is conceptualized in two dimensions: complementary fit and supplementary fit. Communication and information support is crucial to meet the ability‐demand fit; social presence and social support are important to assist in the match between an individual's supply and social norm. Personal innovativeness of IT has a moderating effect on the relationship between technostressors and strain.

The proposed model identifies the antecedents of technostressors in regard to the use of telemedicine technologies, and provides the means to examine the process systematically. It could be useful for administrators to constitute organizational strategy to alleviate stress levels, thus improving work performance and quality of working life.

The authors adapt the person‐technology model (P‐T model) to the CMC featured telemedicine context and further extend the model to reveal both antecedents of technostress and the moderators that affect the ultimate stressful syndrome. Instead of treating the misfit indirectly by its consequence, the present study not only emphasizes revealing the mechanism by investigating the misfit process but it also brings additional understanding to the technostress domain.

Technostress is becoming one of the main challenges among employees in the increasingly digital work context. Following the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, this study aims to understand how technostress (e.g. techno-overload, techno-complexity, techno-insecurity and techno-uncertainty) decreases employees’ work well-being through exhausting one’s emotional and physical resources (i.e. work exhaustion), and to what extent workplace knowledge diversity could buffer this relationship.

The authors collected three-wave data of 235 employees from three manufacturing companies in China. They conducted a moderated mediation model to test their hypotheses.

The results showed that work exhaustion mediated the relationship between technostress and employee work well-being and that perceived workplace knowledge diversity buffered this indirect effect.

This study might be one of the first attempts using the JD-R theory together with a three-wave longitudinal survey design to empirically examine the mediating role of work exhaustion and the moderating role of workplace knowledge diversity. The authors contribute to the information and technology management literature by underscoring the importance of being aware of technostress and managing technology-induced work exhaustion. They highlight that a knowledge-diverse work environment is an essential context that can help employees to handle difficult and complex tasks presented by various technologies and alleviate experienced technostress.