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Do emotions matter in digitized workplace? Technostress and employees’ emotional well-being during the pandemic

Faiza Ali (Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, Superior University, Lahore, Pakistan)
Qasim Ali Nisar (Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, Superior University, Lahore, Pakistan) (Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, School of Media and Communication Studies, Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia)
Sobia Nasir (Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, Superior University, Lahore, Pakistan)

Kybernetes

ISSN: 0368-492X

Article publication date: 6 September 2022

Issue publication date: 28 November 2023

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19 concerns on employees’ well-being, considering workplace stress, aggression, and emotional outcomes, such as emotional engagement, emotional exhaustion, and negative emotional reactions. This study also considers the moderating role of technostress between workplace stress and aggression, which has been overlooked in previous studies.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from frontline hotel employees in Turkey. Online data were collected through Amazon Mechanical Turk services. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed. Nevertheless, only 204 questionnaires with valid responses were usable for analysis through partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

The analytical findings showed that COVID-19 concerns (financial, social gaze, and technological) cause workplace stress, resulting in aggression. Aggression subsequently affects the employees’ emotional outcomes, impacting their emotional well-being. Furthermore, the results showed that technostress insignificantly moderates workplace stress and aggression.

Practical implications

This study provides valuable practical implications to the hotels’ top management, practitioners, and policymakers to provide preventive measures to employees, such as wearing masks and maintaining distance. Hotel practitioners should limit employees’ direct contact with customers and reduce factors that result in overall financial losses and create financial stress for employees.

Originality/value

The current study examined the relationships between the study’s variables in Turkey’s hotel industry context by employing the conservation of resources (COR) theory. The study investigated stress and aggression phenomena, their impact on employees’ emotional responses, and ultimately their influence on the employees’ well-being.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research paper was partially supported by Ms. Saira Sohail who is a Ph.D. candidate at Superior University. The authors acknowledge her input during the revision stage because she provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research study. The authors are immensely grateful to her for her support during the revision of this manuscript.

Citation

Ali, F., Nisar, Q.A. and Nasir, S. (2023), "Do emotions matter in digitized workplace? Technostress and employees’ emotional well-being during the pandemic", Kybernetes, Vol. 52 No. 12, pp. 6122-6143. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-10-2021-1000

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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