¹Adress: Douwstraweg 17, 9203 DN Drachten, t.c.van.der.sluis@student.rug.nl
²University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics & Business.
coping with techno-stress
By
Thomas van der Sluis (S2406241)¹
MSc BA Change Management²
First supervisors: M.L. Hage & U.Y. Eseryel / University of Groningen
Second supervisor: H.C. Bruns
January 18, 2016
Abstract
Professionals need to keep up with increasing use and complexity of Information Technology (IT) in their work. Techno-stress occurs when professionals perceive that they do not have the resources and/or capabilities to cope with IT. In addition, the workforce ages rapidly due to demographic changes. However, very little is known about the influence of age in techno-stress. For that reason, this study explored age related variations in techno-stress by using an interpretive case study method. For this purpose, the researcher interviewed ten professionals. Five respondents were categorized as young professionals (24 to 31 years old) and five as senior professionals (52 to 63 years old). The results suggest that senior professionals perceived more techno-stress as compared with young professionals. Moreover, senior professionals exhibited different degrees of personal resources that they used in coping with techno-stress. The study contributes to techno-stress literature by adding three propositions about age related variations in techno-stress.
Age-related changes in the perception of and coping with techno-stress
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Contents
1. Introduction ... 4
2. Theoretical Framework ... 6
2.1 Transactional-based approach to techno-stress ... 6
2.1.1 Techno-stressors ... 6
2.1.2 Techno-strain ... 7
2.1.3 Techno-stress inhibitors... 7
2.1.4 Technological and organizational factors ... 8
2.2 Coping process
... 8
2.2.1 Primary appraisal ... 9
2.2.2 Secondary appraisal ... 9
2.2.5 Coping efforts ... 10
2.3 Age variations in IT
... 10
2.3.1 Attitudes towards IT ... 10
2.3.2 Technology adoption ... 11
2.3.3 IT use and related resources ... 12
2.4 Conceptual framework
... 13
3. Methodology... 14
3.1 Data quality ... 14
3.2 Data collection ... 15
3.3 Data analysis... 17
4. Results ... 18
4.1 Group 1 – Professionals between 52 and 63 years old
... 19
4.1.1 Stress process ... 19
4.1.2 Strain process ... 21
4.2 Group 2 – Professionals between 24 to 31 years old ... 25
4.2.1 Stress process ... 25
4.2.2 Strain process ... 27
4.3 Cross group analysis ... 30
4.3.1 Personal resources ... 30
5. Discussion and conclusion ... 33
5.1 Interpretations of the findings and propositions ... 33
5.1.1 Age related perception of techno-stress... 33
5.1.2 Age related coping with techno-stress ... 34
5.2 Theoretical contribution ... 36
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5.4
Limitations and future directions ... 37
Appendix A ... 38
Appendix B ... 42
Age-related changes in the perception of and coping with techno-stress
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1. Introduction
Nowadays, the use of Information Technology (IT) in organizations is a normal phenomenon. Despite the advantages that IT offers, it also has negative sides. Professionals have to keep up with the increasing use and complexity of technologies that redefines organizational structures and business processes (Ragu-Nathan, Tarafdar, Ragu-Nathan & Quiang, 2008; Ziefle & Bay, 2005). Therefore, they need to update their technical skills constantly to deal with renewed IT (Wang, Shu & Tu, 2008).
Techno-stress is a negative effect of technology use by users within organizations that occurs through attempts to constantly adapt to evolving ITs and their demands (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008; Salanova, 2013). Ragu-Nathan et al. (2008) defined techno-stress as ‘stress experienced by individuals due to the use of IT’ (p.418). Techno-stress decreases a user his or her productivity, degree of innovation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and satisfaction with IT (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008; Tarafdar, Tu & Ragu-Nathan, 2011). Techno-stress arises, because IT usage exceeds or threatens to exceed a professional its resources and/or capabilities (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008). Therefore, changing demands due to IT usage, cause techno-stress for professionals.
It is surprising that no techno-stress studies primarily focused on the effect of age in techno-stress, since the workforce is rapidly getting older (Tams, Grover & Thatcher, 2014). A rapid aging world population causes an aging workforce, because of an increased life expectancy and decreased fertility rates (Kulik, Ryan, Harper, & George, 2014). In theory, an increased life expectancy means that professionals are able to work longer (Kulik et al., 2014). Especially, the developed regions like USA, France and Sweden deal with the rapid pace of an aging population (United Nations, 2013). That professionals remain longer in the workforce seems plausible since several countries already changed their pension policies and increased their official retirement age (OECD, 2013).
Studies found that older IT users experienced less techno-stress as compared with younger IT users (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008; Tarafdar et al., 2010; Tarafdar, Qiang, Ragu-Nathan & Ragu-Nathan, 2011; Srivastava, Chandra & Shirish, 2015). It is interesting to know which mechanisms explain this effect, since lower techno-stress leads to better organizational outcomes. Therefore, several studies suggested further research on exploring the age-effects on techno-stress (Tams et al., 2014; Srivastava et al., 2015; Tarafdar et al., 2007).
The purpose of this study is to explore how age related variations occur in professionals their perception of and coping with techno-stress. Therefore, it is important to know how professionals cope with techno-stress, because coping efforts affect the experience of techno-stress (Galluch, Grover & Thatcher., 2015). ‘Coping deals with the adaptational acts that an individual performs in response to disruptive events that occur in his/her environment’ (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005, p.494). This study investigates how professionals, who are individuals that execute tasks in a profession for a wage (Woordenboek, 2016), from different ages experience and cope with techno-stress after an IT event. An IT event is relevant, because it emphasizes the need for professionals to adapt. It refers to ‘both the implementation of a new IT as well as significant modifications made to an existing IT’ (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005, p.496). In addition, a qualitative research method is used to explore how age related variations occur in the experience of and coping with an IT event.
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‘How do senior professionals perceive and cope with techno-stress after and during an IT event as compared with young professionals?’
The study enhances our understanding of age related variations in the experience of and coping with techno-stress after an IT event. More specifically, it contributes to current techno-stress literature by adding in age-related factors that cause variations in techno-stress experience of a professional. Besides, it unravels how personal resources affect a professional his or her coping efforts. In addition, this study suggests how coping efforts link with stressors. Moreover, the study contributes to techno-stress literature by providing propositions about factors that influence the techno-stress experience and about personal resources that influence coping efforts.
The knowledge about age related variations with techno-stress makes (change) managers able to improve return on investment in IT. Subsequently, it enables managers to appraise IT events as positive and less stressful for senior as well as for young professionals. In addition, in enables insights in how managers can facilitate professionals in personal resources to cope with techno-stress. This is relevant, since less techno-stress leads to an increasing individual productivity, more innovation, more job satisfaction, more organizational commitment and more satisfaction with IT (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008; Tarafdar, Tu & Ragu-Nathan, 2011).
Age-related changes in the perception of and coping with techno-stress
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2. Theoretical Framework
This chapter addresses components of techno-stress including the coping process by using the transactional-based approach. Next to that, the chapter addresses age related issue in IT use, adoption and resources. For the clarity, table 2.1 contains an overview of important definitions of the study.
2.1 Transactional-based approach to techno-stress
When an individual is under stress, it implies that he or she perceives a misfit between his or her resources and capabilities to deal with the environment (Cooper et al., 2001). This study focuses specifically on techno-stress, whereby an IT event is the environment that causes a misfit for a professional. For techno-stress to occur, a professional needs to have the feeling that the IT event exceeds or threatens to exceed his/her resources and/or capabilities (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008). Therefore, Ragu-Nathan et al. (2008) define techno-stress as ‘stress experienced by individuals due to the use of IT’ (p.418).
This study uses a transactional-based approach to techno-stress (Cooper et al., 2001; Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008). This view builds on the idea that the relationship between two key aspects of techno-stress, i.e. stressors and strain, is not linear and, therefore, differs per professional. In the context of techno-stress, stressors relate to sources of techno-stress. Furthermore, strain consists of ‘the individual’s psychological response to the stressors’ (Ayyagari et al., 2011, p.834). Hence, many stressors do not always lead to the experience of high strain. A professional deals with stressors in his or her own way. Therefore, the transactional-based approach to techno-stress emphasizes the importance of the coping process in order to understand how a stressor leads to strain.
2.1.1 Techno-stressors
Several studies focused on the sources of techno-stress to which they refers as stressors or techno-stress creators (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008, Ayyagari et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2008). Stress literature defined a stressor as ‘the Table 2.1 Definitions of the components of the transactional perspective on techno-stress through a coping lens
Theoretical definitions
Stress The perception of being out of fit with the environment (Cooper et al., 2001)
Stressors ‘Factors that create stress’ (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008, p. 419) or as ‘the events or properties of events (stimuli) that are encountered by individuals.’ (Cooper et al., 2001, p. 14) Strain ‘The individual’s psychological response to the stressors’ (Ayyagari et al., 2011, p.834;
Cooper et al., 2001). Techno-stress
inhibitors
‘Organizational mechanisms that have the potential to reduce the effects on techno-stress’ (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008, p.422).
Coping ‘Coping deals with the adaptational acts that an individual performs in response to disruptive events that occur in his/her environment’ (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005, p.494).
Primary appraisal
‘An individual appraisal of the motivational relevance of the stressors’ (Galluch et al., 2015, p.)
Secondary appraisal
‘Perceived ability of coping resources for dealing with a stressful encounter’ (Cooper et al., 2001, p.161)
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events or properties of events (stimuli) that are encountered by individuals’ (Cooper et al., 2001, p.14) and as potential sources of stress. Ragu-Nathan et al. (2008) categorized five components of stressors, which are used by other techno-stress studies too (Wang et al., 2008; Tarafdar et al., 2011; Fuglseth & Sørebø, 2014; Tarafdar et al., 2015; Srivastava et al., 2015). Ragu-Nathan et al. (2008) based these categories on job characteristics. Hence, they changed job characteristics categories to ones caused by technology. These as techno-overload, techno-invasion, techno-complexity, techno-uncertainty and techno-insecurity. This study adds Ayyagari et al. (2011) role ambiguity stressor, since they found that role ambiguity strongly related to the experience of strain in their study. These six techno-stressors and their definitions are in table 2.1.Table 2.1. Techno-stressors
Techno-stressors Definitions
Ragu-Nathan et al. (2008)
Techno-complexity It refers to ‘situations where the complexity associated with ITs leads users to feel inadequate with regard to their computer skills and forces them to spend time and effort in learning and understanding ITs’ (p. 427).
Techno-insecurity It refers to ‘situations where users feel threatened about losing their jobs and forces them to spend time and effort in learning and understanding ITs’ (p. 427).
Techno-invasion It refers to ‘the invasive effect of ITs in situations where employees can be reached anytime and feel the need to be constantly connected, thus blurring work-related and personal contexts’ (p. 427).
Techno-uncertainty It refers ‘to context where continuing IT changes and upgrades unsettle users and create uncertainty so that they must constantly learn and educate themselves about new ITs’ (p. 427).
Techno-overload It refers to ‘situations where ITs force users to work faster and longer’ (p. 427). Ayyagari et al. (2011)
Role ambiguity ‘unpredictability of the consequences of one’s role performance and lack of information needed to perform the role’ (p.834)
2.1.2 Techno-strain
Techno-strain is this study consists of psychological strain (Fuglseth & Sørebø, 2014). It is defined ‘the individual’s psychological response to the stressors’ (Ayyagari et al., 2011, p.834; Cooper et al., 2001). Examples of psychological techno-strain are a professional’s dissatisfaction with the IT, computer anxiety, decreased job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Fuglseth & Sørebø, 2014; Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008).
2.1.3 Techno-stress inhibitors
Age-related changes in the perception of and coping with techno-stress
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involvement facilitation. The inhibitor ‘helps alleviate techno-stress by keeping users informed about the rationale for introducing new ITs, by letting them know about the effects of such introduction, and by encouraging them to use and experiment with new ITs’ (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008, p. 429).2.1.4 Technological and organizational factors
Technological and organizational factors affect an IT user its techno-stress perception (Ayyagari et al., 2011; Wang et al., (2008). Ayyagari et al. (2011) argued that it remained unclear which characteristics of technology caused techno-stressors from the job stress literature. Therefore, they studied technology characteristics as antecedents for these techno-stressors. They conclude that technological characteristics such as, usefulness, complexity, reliability, pace of change, presenteeism and anonymity, influenced job-related techno-stressors. Besides, Wang et al. (2008) found that the influence of the internal organizational environment affects an individual’s level of techno-stress too. More precisely, Wang et al. (2008) found that the extent of innovative culture and centralization have significant influence in techno-stress perceptions. The definitions of the technological and organizational factors are in table 2.2.
Table 2.2. Technological and organizational factors
Ayyagari et al. (2011) T ec h n o lo g y f ac to rs
Usefulness ‘Degree to which characteristics of technology enhance job performance’ (p. 837).
Complexity ‘Degree to which use of technology is free of effort’ (p. 837).
Reliability ‘Degree to which features and capabilities provided by the technology are dependable’ (p. 837).
Pace of change ‘Degree to which an individual perceives technological changes to be rapid’ (p. 837).
Presenteeism ‘Degree to which technologies enable individuals to be reachable’ (p. 837). Anonymity ‘Degree to which exact use of technology could be identifiable’ (p. 837). Wang et al. (2008 Or g an izatio n a l le v el fac to rs Innovative culture
An innovative culture promotes frequent IT changes and internal changes.
Centralization The degree of centralization plays a role in the experience of techno-stress, because employees lack decision-making in the introduction of new technology.
2.2 Coping process
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The coping process consists of two cognitive appraisals, which are primary appraisal and secondary appraisal. A ‘cognitive appraisal can be most readily understood as the process of categorizing an encounter, and its various facets, with respect to its significance for well-being’ (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, p.31). Both cognitive appraisals are essential in a complete analysis of how professionals cope with IT events (Lazarus & DeLongis, 1983). Hence, these processes are interdependent and together shape coping behaviors (Cooper et al., 2001). Therefore, this section is about the coping process that occurs between techno-stressors and techno-strain.2.2.1 Primary appraisal
Primary appraisal is a process where professionals give meaning and significance to the situation (Cooper et al., 2001). Beaudry & Pinsonneault (2005) described that IT users ‘assess the nature of a particular event and its personal importance and relevance’ (p.495) during primary appraisal. By doing so, IT users ask themselves ‘what is at stake for me in this situation?’ (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005, p.495). Hence, IT users try figure out what the consequences are of the IT event and whether these are stressful to them (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005). Therefore, primary appraisal deals with how a professional perceives an IT event.
Fadel & Brown (2010) suggested that performance and effort expectancy influence an IT user his or her primary appraisal. Performance expectancy is ‘the degree to which an individual believes that using the system will help him or her to attain gains in job performance’ (Venkatesh et al., 2003, p. 447). Effort expectancy is ‘the degree of ease associated with the use of the system’ (Venkatesh et al., 2003, p. 450). However, Fadel & Brown (2010) did not study the age related variations in in those influence.
Lazarus & Folkman (1984) identified three outcome options for primary appraisal. These are irrelevant, positive-benign and stressful appraisal of an IT event. An irrelevant primary appraisal occurs when the professional considers that he or she has nothing to lose by the IT event and the individual choose to ignore this event. A positive-benign primary appraisal occurs when the professional consider that the IT event enhances his or her well-being and a stress appraisal occurs when the individuals perceives the IT event as loss, threat and challenge. In a stressful primary appraisal, professionals perceive stress, because they perceive demands resulting from IT that exceed or threaten to exceed their resources and/or capabilities (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008). Challenge and thread are hard to distinguish from each other and are not necessarily mutually exclusive (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
2.2.2 Secondary appraisal
Secondary appraisal is the professionals his or her ‘perceived ability of coping resources for dealing with a stressful encounter’ (Cooper et al., 2001, p.161). During secondary appraisal, professionals ask themselves what they can do about the situation. Professionals evaluate their coping resources before they use coping efforts (Cooper et al., 2001; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
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A recent study that focused on personal resources in job demand, found that these personal resources enhanced professionals’ their well-being in dealing with job demands (Searle & Lee, 2015). Hobfoll, Johnson, Ennis & Jackson (2003) defined personal resources as ‘aspects of the self that are generally linked to resiliency’ (p.632). Personal resources explain unique well-being effects for different professionals in the same work situation (Bakker & Demorouti, 2014). Searle & Lee (2015) found that job demands and resources have unique well-beings effects for each professional.Pro-active coping is a personal resource that leads to less perceived burnout in dealing with more challenging demands (Searle & Lee, 2015). Pro-active coping is defined as ‘efforts undertaken in advance of a potentially stressful event to prevent it or modify its form before it occurs’ (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1997, p.417). Lazarus & Folkman (1984) also described individual resources, which professionals use to deal with demands. They identified health and energy, positive beliefs, problem-solving skills, social skills, social support, material resources. Next to that, computer self-efficacy is an individual resource too (Hsieh & Wang, 2013; Compeau & Higgens, 1995). It refers to ‘a judgement of one’s capability to use a computer’ (Compeau & Higgins, 1995, p.192). The concept is about using the computer in the future for a wide variety of tasks. It does not focus on specific tasks. Compeau & Higgins (1995) found that the concept was important in the feelings and behavior of IT users.
2.2.5 Coping efforts
Individuals cope with the situation through the usage of two types of coping efforts (Beaudry & Pinsonneault; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). These are emotion-focused and problem-focused coping efforts. Emotion-focused efforts do not change the situation itself. Instead, it changes the perception of the IT user towards the situation (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005). Examples of efforts are ‘avoidance, distancing, selective attention, positive comparisons and wresting positive value from negative events’ (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, p.150). Individuals use this type of coping when they perceive the situation as unchangeable (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). On the other hand, problem-focused effort change the situation itself (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005). This type of effort ‘is oriented towards dealing with the specific aspects of the situation by changing the environment (e.g. altering of alleviating environmental pressures, barriers, resources, or procedures) or changing one’s self (e.g. developing new standards of behavior, shifting levels of aspiration, finding new channels of gratification, and learning new skills or procedures)’ (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005, p. 495). Individuals use this type of efforts when they perceive the situation as changeable (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
2.3 Age variations in IT
It remains unclear why older IT users experienced less techno-stress as compared with younger IT users (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008; Tarafdar et al., 2010; Tarafdar, Qiang, Ragu-(Ragu-Nathan & Ragu-(Ragu-Nathan, 2011; Srivastava, Chandra & Shirish, 2015). Therefore, this section is about the age variations in IT attitude, use, technology adoption and knowledge resources.
2.3.1 Attitudes towards IT
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directs towards some attitude object’ (p. 454). As stated before, older IT users experienced less techno-stress than younger IT users did. On the contrary, they exhibit more computer anxiety as compared with young IT users (Laguna & Babcock, 1997; Powell, 2013). Parasuraman & Igbaria (1990) defined computer anxiety as ‘the tendency of individuals to be uneasy, apprehensive or fearful about current or future use of computers’ (p.329). Computer anxiety can also be categorized as a techno-strain experience, since it is a psychological experience towards IT. For that reason, it is remarkable that studies found that older IT users experienced more computer anxiety and less techno-stress as compared with younger IT users (Laguna & Babcock, 1997; Powell, 2013). Powell (2013) explained that a high level of computer anxiety from older IT users is caused by the lack of computer usage during their education. However, it remained unclear why older IT users’ perceived lower techno-stress as compared with younger IT users. Tarafdar et al. (2011) found that older IT users with less stress had more organizational tenure, but it remained unclear how it related to a lower techno-stress perception.Eliasa, Smith & Barneya (2012) found a double age effect on older IT users’ attitudes towards IT. Older IT users with a positive attitude towards IT indicated the highest motivation and job satisfaction. On the contrary, older IT users with a negative attitude towards technology indicated the lowest motivation and job satisfaction. Both attitudes towards IT are categorized as techno-strain outcomes. It highlights a difference between older IT users and the importance of their attitude towards IT.
Therefore, this study contributes to the literature about older IT users attitudes towards IT. It is shown that there is an ongoing debate in the literature about this topic.
2.3.2 Technology adoption
Technology adoption literature is concerned with the acceptance and use of IT to increase productivity with IT (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis & Davis, 2003). It might have similarities with primary appraisal of an IT event, which occurs during techno-stress, since during primary appraisal IT users ‘assess the nature of a particular event and its personal importance and relevance’ (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005, p.495). Moreover, a low degree of techno-stress increases productivity too (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008). Therefore, age related technology adoption factors are discussed.
Venkatesh et al. (2003) found that performance expectancy, which is defined in section 2.2.1, had a stronger influence on young IT users. Effort expectancy, also defined in paragraph 2.2.1, had a stronger influence on senior IT users. As a third factor, Venkatesh et al (2003) identified facilitating conditions, which have a stronger effect for older IT users.
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Table 2.3 Older users technology adoption factors
Factors affecting older IT user adoption
Short description
Value ‘Perception of usefulness and potential benefit’ (p. 750).
Usability ‘Perception of user friendliness and ease of learning’ (p. 750).
Affordability ‘Perception of potential cost savings’ (p. 750).
Accessibility ‘Knowledge of existence and availability in the market’ (p. 750).
Technical support ‘Availability and quality of professional assistance throughout use’ (p. 750).
Social support ‘Support from family, peers and community’ (p. 750).
Emotion ‘Perception of emotional and psychological benefits’ (p. 750).
Independence ‘Perception of social visibility or how a technology makes them look to others’ (p. 750).
Experience ‘Relevance with their prior experience and interactions’ (p. 750).
Confidence ‘Empowerment without anxiety or intimidation’ (p. 750).
Therefore, technology adoption factors might play a role in the age related techno-stress perception of professionals.
2.3.3 IT use and related resources
IT use differs per age, since young IT users use a broader range of technologies as compared with older IT users (Rogers & Rouseau, 1998; Olson, O’Brien, Rogers & Charness, 2011). Next to that, ‘age-related difference across computer users was most evident was for advanced systems and software use’ (Olson et al., 2011, p. 132). As IT experience, older IT users indicated that they had frequent experience with computer tasks, such as clicking the mouse, use the keyboard, closing screens and so on (Olson et al., 2011). These experiences are limited as compared with younger IT users, who exhibited more experience with diverse systems and software (Olson et al., 2011). Rousseau & Rogers (1998) found that older IT users used IT more selectively as compared with young users. They explain the selectivity of IT use by their need for training. It suggests that older IT users used IT on the condition that they received training.
Older IT users have different mental models as compared with younger IT users (Ziefle & Bay, 2005). In their study, they found that older IT users showed a lower performance with more complex phones as compared with younger individuals. They relate this to a technical understanding of the device. In order to overcome this, they recommend user-friendly design for older users to compensate for the complexity effect on mobile phone usage. Hence, low complexity phones deliver equal performance for older IT users as compared with younger IT users of a complex phone. Therefore, older IT users do not have sufficient resources to deal with complex IT (Ziefle & Bay, 2005).
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application. Age differences appeared in the group who learned the IT application for the first time. Older IT users learned slower and working with the word application led to worse performance results as compared with younger IT users. However, for the group who was experienced with word processing, the age differences were smaller. Older IT users needed more time to learn the new application, but their performance became equal after the learning period. Therefore, it is important to involve older IT users in the design process, because it provides them with opportunities to tailor the IT to their needs (Hawthorn, 2007). This improves their speed of learning as well as the performance outcomes. For this study, it implies that the personal resources differ between younger and older IT users.2.4 Conceptual framework
All the above leads to following conceptual model is presented in figure 2.0. The IT event triggers techno-stress to occur. Therefore, the professional appraises the IT event. During primary appraisal, professionals experience the IT event, i.e. the person (user) and environment (IT event) come together during this process. This leads to the perception of stress, caused by techno-stressors. At that time, the professionals asks him/herself how he or she could deal with the stress. This is the secondary appraisal. It leads to individual coping efforts that result in techno-strain experience. The horizontal processes within in the conceptual model are very much interrelated with each other (Cooper et al., 2001). It remains unclear how age and technology adoption factors as well as technological organizational factors plays a role in this process.
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3. Methodology
This study adopts a qualitative research method to develop theory with underlying assumptions from interpretivist research. Qualitative data helps to understand employee motivations and actions (Myers, 2009). Therefore, it provides the researcher with in-depth data that is used to explore how age related variations occur in the perception of techno-stress. Moreover, it is important to state the philosophical assumptions that underlie the research method, because it provides insight in how researchers obtain their knowledge (Myers, 2009). From an interpretivist perspective, reality is socially constructed and the context of the data is important to understand its meaning (Myers, 2009). An interpretive research perspective suits the focus of the study, because of the needed rich, in-depth data about how professionals think and act with changed technology (Klein & Myers, 1999). Besides, it provides an understanding about what from the context causes a professional his or her techno-stress experience and how he/she copes with it (Cooper et al., 2001).
The explorative character of the study contributes to the aim of building theory that extends techno-stress literature by adding age related variations in the perception of and coping with techno-stress. To enable theory building from age related variations with techno-stress, the researcher conducts an interpretive case study based on Walsham (1995), where professionals are compared with each other based on their age. Therefore, the unit of analysis is an age group that enables to build theory about age related variations in the perception of and coping with techno-stress. The researcher takes the role of an outside researcher, what provides the merit that the researcher is considered as an outside individual, who does not have a direct perceived personal stake in its observations and interpretations (Walsham, 1995). Therefore, it is expected that the participants are open in their expressions (Walsham, 1995). However, the main disadvantage of this role is that the researcher does not attend in multiple occasions (Walsham, 1995), but instead he gathers meanings and data from participants in one interview. Despite the disadvantage, it suits the explorative character of the study by providing the researcher with the opportunity to develop generalizations about age-related variations that occurs between age groups.
The role of theoretical concepts as identified in the study is to function as an initial guide for data collection and analysis. An advantage of this approach is openness to emerging concepts (Walsham, 1995). This study develops propositions based on the emerging concepts that contribute to techno-stress literature.
3.1 Data quality
Myers (2009) stated that quality criteria of interpretive case studies are hard to define, since these depend on a subjective view of reality. Despite that, it is Yin (2009) addresses reliability and validity of case study research, which are used as guidelines.
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Second, Yin (2009) defined external validity as ‘the theoretical domain to which a study’s findings can be generalized’ (p.40). The generalizations that result from this study are based on Walsham (1995) and are derive from the data. They contribute to rich insights about how young and senior professionals perceive and cope with techno-stress. In addition, Yin (2009) defined internal validity as ‘seeking to establish a causal relationship, whereby certain conditions are believed to lead to other conditions, as distinguished from spurious relationships’ (p.40). In order to do so, pattern matching is applied based on Yin (2009). Pattern matching is used to develop explanations for how and why age related variations occur in the experience of and coping with techno-stress.3.2 Data collection
Data collection focused on professionals from two age groups in order to develop propositions about age related variations in techno-stress. For the clarity, a professional is defined as an individual who executes tasks in a profession for a wage (Woordenboek, 2016). The first age group consists of senior professionals, from 52 to 63 years old. The second age group consists of young professionals, who are 24 to 31 years old. The criterion of being a professional contributes to the main question of studying techno-stress in a work setting. Moreover, all participants dealt with an IT event no longer than two years ago. An IT event refers to ‘both the implementation of a new IT as well as significant modifications made to an existing IT’ (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005, p.496). The IT event is used as a contextual bounding, because it increases the participant his or her memory about his or her techno-stress experience and coping efforts.
Ten semi-structured interviews are conducted from 30 to 60 minutes with professionals from different organizations. A semi-structured interview combines the strengths from open and structured interviews, such as structure for the interviewer, but it also leaves room for improvisation from the interviewee’s perspective (Myers, 2009). Appendix A contains the interview protocol that is used during the interviews.
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Table 3.2 Overview of participants their characteristics
Code Age Job Work
experience in position
Industry Side tasks
IT change Start to use the IT event
Group 1
Janna 58 Planner 17 years Social services Closely involved in the IT event project Software Approximately
two weeks ago
Rik 52 Teacher 7 years Education Software Two to three years
ago
Diederik 62 Teacher 35 years Education Hardware Approximately one and half years ago
Talitha 63 Administrative job
12,5 years Healthcare Software Approximately
two years ago
Wim 61 Sales 10 years Energy Hard- and
software
Approximately one year ago Group 2
Ben 25 Differs from
time to time within organization. Now customer service
3 months Fashion Software Approximately
one year ago
Jetty 26 Customer service specialist (e-commerce)
1,5 years Retail Closely
involved in the IT event project
Software Approximately
one year ago
Mabel 24 Administrative job 1,5 years Social services Closely involved in the IT event project Software Approximately
two weeks ago
Stefanie 26 Social worker 2 years Social services
Software A few weeks ago
Elise 31 Executive secretary
17
3.3 Data analysisThe interviewer recorded the interviews and transcribed those afterwards. Transcription of the data led to 102 text pages. Coding is used to analyze the data. Codes are ‘tags or labels for assigning units of meaning to the descriptive or inferential information compiled during a study’ (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p.56).
The second step of data analysis consists of open coding. ‘Open coding involves analyzing the text and summarizing the text by using a succinct code’ (Myers, 2009, p.110). Hence, it provides the researcher with a better feeling of the data. After that, the researcher wrote a summary per interview. Fourth, the researcher developed a codebook based on the theoretical concepts (stressors, primary appraisal, secondary appraisal, coping efforts, strain and technological and organization factors) that is used for theoretical coding. As a next step, axial coding is applied to search for relationships among the theoretical and open codes that resulted in themes and categories. Axial coding is defined as ‘categories are related to their subcategories, and the relationships test against the data’ (Corbin & Strauss, 1990, p.130). In the final step, the researcher refined the initial codebook. See appendix B for the final codebook as well as table 3.4 for a summary of the coding process.
Table 3.4 Coding process
Step Description
1 Transcription of the interviews
2 Open coding
3 Writing summaries per interview
4 Theoretical coding
5 Axial coding
Age-related changes in the perception of and coping with techno-stress
18
4. Results
This chapter contains the results from the interviews. The result section is structured according to an in-depth case analysis per age group and a cross case analysis between the groups based on Miles & Huberman (1994). Moreover, to guide the analysis, the techno-stress process is structured into the stress process and the strain process. The stress process consists of primary appraisal that leads to stressors and cause a perception of stress. In order to cope with the stress, the strain process occurs. During this process, professionals ask themselves whether they are able to deal with the stress and which efforts they could undertake to cope with the stress. It results in the experience of strain.
19
4.1 Group 1 – Professionals between 52 and 63 years oldHistorical consciousness and work and life experience typified senior professionals. They exhibited a high degree of historical consciousness, what means that they are aware of how IT changed over the years. Senior professionals mentioned how IT got into their professional lives and how IT itself changed over time to become more user friendly. In addition, they indicated that IT made their work more objective, controllable, and better. For instance, Talitha (63) said, ‘I also have a paper file, but when there are malfunctions and it is saved on the computer, it is recorded safely. When someone calls me to do this or that, I search that from my chair without going through all the paper files 1. The quote illustrates that senior professionals are aware of how IT improved their work over
time. Besides, senior professionals used their work and life experience as a resource to cope with the IT event. That resource consists of non-technical resources that the senior professional developed over the years. For instance, Janna (58) said, ‘I’m not one of the youngest ones anymore. I think I have much life experience that I can use by introducing the IT event. I also think that there will be a lot of resistance towards it despite a good involvement of the people. When the system goes live for them, it probably will result in much resistance. I think I can handle that2.
4.1.1 Stress process
Senior professionals differed in their primary appraisal of the IT event. One appraised the IT event as positive (Talitha), two as a challenge (Diederik and Wim), one as a loss (Rik) and one as thread (Janna).
A positive primary appraisal of the IT event is affected by a better work performance through the IT event and good facilitations work and learn the IT event. It resulted in no stressors and therefore no stress too. Talitha said, ‘the system does not cause stress. When there are problems, I can ask for help. This is something that is not possible when I work at home. For instance, the system does not work; can you take a look it? The idea that an application manager can help me, provides me with a calm feeling3’. The quote illustrates the importance of facilitating
conditions to avoid a stress. Talitha (63) did not perceive stressors and in line with it a low degree of stress. Senior professionals considered the IT event as a challenge for several reasons. Senior professionals needed to invest more effort to use and learn the IT event. Wim (61) said, ‘I’m not an IT specialist myself, so I need to provide effort and energy to make it my own4’. In addition, they lacked support when they experienced problems with the
IT event. Next to those factors, senior professionals considered an increase in performance due to the use of it. Diederik (62) said, ‘our students know little about history. When they use the iPad, students search more effectively. It has a greater effect’5’. Both factors led to the perception of system complexity stressor. Wim (61)
mentioned that he perceived the IT event as difficult to understand. About that, he said, ‘in the beginning when something like that is introduced and you need to work with it. I experience stress then, because am I using it well?
1Ik heb ook nog een papieren dossier, maar als geen storingen hebt en het is een keer opgeslagen, ligt het vast. En als iemand belt kun je dit
of dat voor me zoeken dan kun je vanaf je stoel direct alles oproepen, zonder allemaal papieren door te nemen – Talitha (63)
2 ‘Ik ben niet een van de jongsten meer en ik denk dat ik zoveel levenswijsheid heb om dat op een goede manier te introduceren en ik denk
ook wat er is nu natuurlijk heel veel weerstand tegen en mensen zijn toch goed in het proces meegenomen, maar het zal toch nog ook als het gaat lopen heel veel weerstand geven en ik denk dat ik daar wel op een goede manier om kan gaan.’ – Janna (58).
3
‘
Het levert geen stress op. Als er wel iets is, dat is natuurlijk een voordeel van werken in een organisatie ten opzichte van thuis, hier heb ikniemand achter de hand. Op het werk wel, die ik kan raadplegen. Het werkt niet, dus wil je even komen kijken. Dat is ook een stuk rust denk ik. Dat je applicatiebeheerders en ICT mensen achter de hand hebt.’ – Talitha (63).
4 ‘Ik ben zelf geen IT’er, dus ik moet daar veel tijd en energie in steken om het eigen te maken.’ – Wim (61).
5 ‘Onze leerlingen weten heel weinig van geschiedenis en als je ze dan op de iPad zet met die vragen erbij, gaan ze gericht zoeken. Dan heeft
Age-related changes in the perception of and coping with techno-stress
20
The quote also illustrates a degree of uncertainty about the IT event caused by a lack of knowledge. He said, ‘I needed to pick up the stuff. Then I got a short explanation about how it worked, but that one was very short. It was like, just try it and when it does not work, call me. I received the single components at home. Therefore, it was up to me to figure out how those fit into the suitcase. I had some contact to figure out how the printer fitted in the suitcase, because I had no idea. Finally, one found out how it worked. Well I did it that way too’. In addition, techno-downtime caused stress too. Diederik (62) said, ‘the disadvantage is that some won’t work anymore. When apple released a new update, some things will not work anymore. A huge disadvantage is that when WIFI breaks down, because than I have a classroom with 20 to 30 student who are not able to work anymore6’. Next to that,they mentioned the opportunity to work at home due to the IT event as a stressor, what leads to techno-invasion. Diederik (62) said about that, ‘students communicate much faster with each other. They can also communicate with me. Even when I am at home, but I should deter that, because otherwise I am always working7’. Those
stressors, resulting from a challenge appraisal led to a medium degree of stress, since they perceived positive as well as negative factors from the IT event that led to four stressors.
The IT event appraised as a loss is caused by a high effort needed to work with the IT event, not useful technology, a high level of centralization of the organization and worse facilitations. The senior professional mentioned that he perceived the organization as too large to cope with a change such as the IT event, because of the pace of the change. Rik (52) said, ‘I think that the organization is too big, too complex to change quickly8’. In addition, the
senior professional needed to provide more effort in using the IT event. Rik (52) said, ‘there are many actions needed to enter a grade9’. Next to that, the IT event did not suit with the work. Therefore, Rik (52) said, ‘it’s
devious, because it is not at a class level. There are many actions need to enter a grade10’. In addition, worse
facilitating conditions increased the stress perception, since Rik (52) mentioned that nothing was done with his feedback. He said, ‘improvements that the users mentioned to the so called super users, are passed through to the administrative automatization department. Then nothing happens with those, because it falls out of the license or opportunities of what so ever11’. Moreover, the organizations provided worse facilitations as well to understand
the IT event, because they were provided at times when the senior professional was scheduled to do other tasks. It led to the stressors system complexity and techno-overload. Rik (52) said, ‘I perceived the new system as difficult, because it differs in philosophy from the old system12’. Rik (52) needed to learn and work with the IT event outside
working hours, since the speed of working delayed after the IT event and training courses were provided during scheduled work hours. The senior professional considered the IT event as a loss, since the previous IT event was perceived as better. All the above, led to a high stress experience.
6 ‘Het nadeel is dan wel dat bepaalde dingen niet meer willen lopen. Ook als er weer eens nieuwe update is geweest van Apple, dan willen
bepaalde dingen niet meer lopen. En heel groot nadeel is dat wanneer de wifi uitvalt, want dan zit in met 20/30 leerlingen die niks meer kunnen.’ – Diederik (62).
7 ‘Leerlingen kunnen veel sneller met elkaar communiceren en ze kunnen met mij communiceren. En ze kunnen zelfs als ik thuis zit, maar dat
moet je een beetje afhouden want anders ben je altijd aan het werk.’ – Diederik (62).
8 ‘’Ik vind de organisatie te groot, te complex om snel te kunnen schakelen met veranderingen.’ – Rik (52).
9 ‘Omslachtig, omdat het niet op klassenniveau is gemaakt. Er zijn veel handelingen nodig om uiteindelijk een cijfer in te voeren.’ – Rik (52).
10 ‘Omslachtig, omdat het niet op klassenniveau is gemaakt. Er zijn veel handelingen nodig om uiteindelijk een cijfer in te
voeren.’ – Rik (52).
11‘Veranderingen die de gebruiker aangeeft bij zogenaamde super users, worden doorgegeven door de super users naar het administratieve
automatiseringsafdeling en vervolgens gebeurt er niks mee, want het niet binnen de licentie of de mogelijkheden. Of wat dan ook.’ – Rik (52).
21
Social influence, a high degree of centralization and a higher level of control from managers led to a threatening appraised IT event. The senior professionals mentioned concerns about the increased control of the IT event on colleagues, where the professional works for as a planner. Janna (58) said‘the new IT will be a huge change for them. They were used to plan their own workdays. Now they will be planned from minute to minute and from half hour to half an hour. They have no say in it anymore 13’, which is categorized as a factor that influenced her primaryappraisal of the IT event. Moreover, Janna (58) said about IT, ‘it became a steering mechanism that manager’s use in managing. I think… The control increases. I think that is a pity14’. The increased management control is in
line with the organizational factor centralization. Janna said, ‘Many changes are determined from the top of the organization and those are not communicated with the floor’ – Janna (58). At the time of the interview, Janna (58) used the new IT a few times in a learning environment and mentioned that she perceived the IT as difficult. Later on, she mentioned that she perceived time pressure related to the IT event as a stressor. About that she said, ‘when I saw the IT and practiced a little with it, I noticed that things worked different in the system as compared with reality, but I have so little time to fix this15’. It led to a high perception of stress, since she felt that she had much
to lose.
To conclude, senior professionals experienced different degrees of stress, varying from low to high stress. Their stress perception depended on their primary appraisal, which is affected by five factors. First, the level of effort to learn the IT event affected primary appraisal, which is closely related to facilitating conditions, since those support senior professionals in learning and working with the IT event. Second, an increased performance due to the use of the IT event affected their primary appraisal in a positive way. Third, a social influence from colleagues affected primary appraisal negatively, since the senior professional felt an increased management control for them. Fourth, senior professionals mentioned organizational centralization as an influencing factor. For instance, they considered the organization for not being capable to manage the IT event. Fifth, senior professionals did not always perceive technology usefulness. For instance when the IT did not support the work process. Senior professionals indicated system complexity as a most common stressor. In addition, senior professionals received too little time to learn how to use the IT event. Therefore, they needed to learn and with the IT event at home. This led to stressors as techno-overload and techno-invasion.
4.1.2 Strain process
This paragraph continues on the structure as used in the stress process. Therefore, the strain processes are analyzed per primary appraisal.
The senior professional who appraised the IT event as positive perceived a low degree of stress. In addition, she perceived a high secondary appraisal, because of sufficient general IT knowledge, the presence of work and life experience and well facilitations for her resources. In order to learn the IT event or to deal with difficulties, she used problem-focused coping efforts. Talitha (63) said, ‘In the years when I did not work, I followed computer
13 ‘Het wordt voor hun echt een hele verandering. Zij waren gewend hun dag gewoon in te delen. Zij gaan nu van minuut tot minuut van half
uur tot half uur gepland worden. Ze hebben daar totaal geen zeggenschap meer over.’ – Janna (58).
14 ‘Uh, ja het is een sturingsmechanisme geworden waar managers op sturen. Ik vind dat... de controle wordt steeds erger natuurlijk. Dat
vind ik ergens wel wat jammer.’ – Janna (58).
15 ‘Op het moment uh dat ik het te zien kreeg en er wat mee ging oefenen en oh het staat er toch heel anders in dan het in de werkelijkheid nu
Age-related changes in the perception of and coping with techno-stress
22
courses, because I had the perception that if I would go back to work, I had to be up to date’16. Talitha mentioned
fear or outdated IT knowledge as her strain experience. After using the IT event, her appraisal of the IT event remained the same.
Senior professionals who appraised the IT event as a challenge perceived a moderate stress perception and a moderate secondary appraisal. They mentioned that they exhibited general IT knowledge, but that they needed a high effort to learn and understand the new IT. This was due to a lack of facilitation conditions (training courses, involvement). Their general IT knowledge was outdated and referred to the use of MS Dos. Wim (61) said, ‘we had a private PC project. That was with a computer. It is 30 years ago. At that time, the first computer arrived. At that time, I worked with MS DOS. The screen only had green letters. Back then, I wrote my own programs. I spend hours for a doll to walk over my screen. The results was amazing after days of typing17. In order to cope with the
stress, the senior professionals used problem-focused efforts and their general IT knowledge. For instance, in order to cope with system complexity, Diederik (62) said, ‘when you do not know how it works, I start asking others. However, when you look for answers yourself, you will learn the most18’. In addition, Wim (61) said ‘I fool around
with it and then bingo. There is not something like a phone number to call for where you ask your question19’. The
IT event led to strain perceptions of distrust and worries towards the IT event. However, their attitude improved over time as compared with primary appraisal. This was due to their coping efforts.
The senior professional who appraised the IT event as a loss perceived a high stress perception, but a moderate secondary appraisal. He exhibited a high degree of general IT knowledge, but also work and life experience. Because of his general IT knowledge, Rik (52) said that the technology usefulness was low, since he knew that there were better alternatives available. In order to cope with the stress resulting from the lack of usefulness, he used problem-focused aimed at system adaption as well as learning the IT event. Rik said, ‘I work independently through the system to figure out how it works20’. The facilitating conditions were not sufficient, because they were
scarce and planned badly. Since not all of his problem-focused effort were effective, his also needed emotion-focused coping efforts. Rik (52) said, ‘when it cannot be adapted, it depends on my humor. Accepting or just entering the grades21’. All the above resulted in strain outcomes, such as frustration and anger towards the IT event
as well as the organization. The senior professional his attitude towards the IT event remained the same overtime.
The senior professional who appraised the IT event as a thread perceived high stress and a high secondary appraisal as well. Janna (58) mentioned that she had a high degree of work and life experience and historical consciousness. In addition, she perceived well facilitations to support her resources. In order to cope with the high stress, Janna (58) used problem-focused coping efforts. For instance, Janna (58) said, ‘it is a newly developed program and I like to be involved. I also think it is important, because I know all these people well and that it will be introduced for them in a good way too. It is so soon businesslike. The treatment officers are afraid too that we are going to
16 ‘Ik heb wel in de jaren dat ik niet werkte computer cursussen gevolgd, want ik had wel het idee dat als ik ooit weer aan de slag ging/wil
dan moet ik bij blijven.’ – Talitha (63).
17 ‘We hadden toen een privé pc project. Dat dan met een computer. Dat is 30 jaar geleden. Toen kwamen de eerste computer. Toen werkte je
met MS DOS. Toen had je eigenlijk alleen nog maar een scherm met groene lettertjes. Toen schreef je zelf programma’s en daar was je uren mee bezig om een poppetje over je scherm te laten lopen. Na dagen tikwerk was het resultaat fantastisch’ – Wim (61)
18 ‘Op het moment dat ik het niet meer weet, ga ik anderen vragen. Als je zelf op zoek gaat, leer je het meeste’ – Diederik (62).
19 ‘Dan ga ik er mee klooien en bingo. Er is niet zo iets van bel een nummer en leg je vraag daar neer en los dat voor mij op’ – Wim (61). 20 ‘Zelfstandig het systeem doorworstelen en dan zien hoe het werkt.’ – Rik (52).
23
plan their tasks from minute to minute. You have to do that in a good way’22. Because of her high degree of work
and life experience, Janna (58) felt that she was able to participate in the IT event project. She said, ‘I’m not one of the youngest ones anymore. I think I have much life experience that I can use by introducing the IT event. I also think that there will be a lot of resistance towards it despite a good involvement of the people. When the system goes live for them, it probably will result in much resistance. I think I can handle that23’. All the above led to strain
perceptions, such as excitement, doubts and dissatisfaction about the IT event. The attitude toward the IT event did not change. Janna (58) said about her perception of the IT event after being involved for a while, ‘no, I thought it would be like this. I did expect a lot of change to be made before going live24’.
To conclude, for some senior professionals their appraisal of the IT event improved (Diederik & Wim) and for some it remained equal (Talitha, Janna & Rik). An improved primary appraisal was due to effective problem-focused coping efforts. Senior professionals perceived facilitations conditions as important to facilitate their personal resources in coping with the IT event. In order to cope with the stress, they mainly used problem-focused efforts aimed at learning the IT event and attempting to adapt the IT itself. Moreover, there were variations among their use of the coping efforts. Some indicated the use of emotional skills, which they gathered during their work and life experience as well as historical consciousness in a problem-focused effort. For instance, Janna (58) mentioned that she used her work and life experience to cope with the expected resistance from the IT event. She did so, because she mentioned that the works tasks were still executed by human beings. Moreover, most problem-focused efforts were aimed at understanding the IT itself. If this did not result in a satisfactory response, they used emotion-focused coping efforts such as accepting to cope with the stress. The efforts resulted in the strain experiences aimed at the IT event, such as excitement, frustration, distrust and worries. One senior professionals also targeted his strain towards the organization, because its lack of change capabilities.
22 ‘Het is een nieuw ontwikkeld programma en ik vind het leuk om daarbij betrokken te zijn. En ik vind het ook belangrijk, want ik ken die
mensen allemaal goed en dat het voor hen ook op een goede manier geïntroduceerd wordt. Want je loopt al gauw, het is al zo zakelijk. De behandelaars zijn ook heel bang en dat gaat ook gebeuren natuurlijk dat wij van minuut tot minuut hun werkzaamheden gaan inplannen. Maar dat je dan wel op een goede manier gaat doen.’ – Janna (58).
23 ‘Ik ben niet een van de jongsten meer en ik denk dat ik zoveel levenswijsheid heb om dat op een goede manier te introduceren en ik denk
ook wat er is nu natuurlijk heel veel weerstand tegen en mensen zijn toch goed in het proces meegenomen, maar het zal toch nog ook als het gaat lopen heel veel weerstand geven en ik denk dat ik daar wel op een goede manier om kan gaan.’ – Janna (58).
24 Nee, ik had wel gedacht dat het zo zou zijn enne ik had ook wel gedacht dat als ik in de praktijk echt bezig moet gaan dat echt heel veel
24
Table 4.1. Overview of senior professional his or her techno-stress
Stress process Strain process
Primary appraisal (PA) Influencing factors PA Stressors Stress perceptio n Secondary appraisal (SA) Influencing personal resources SA Facilitating conditions
Coping efforts Strain Reappraisal
Talitha (63) Positive - Better performance - Good facilitations
None Low High - Work and life
experience - General IT knowledge Good facilitations Problem-focused aimed at understanding Fear of outdated IT knowledge Equal Wim (61)
Challenge - High degree of effort needed - Better performance - Worse facilitations - System complexity
Medium Moderate - General IT
knowledge Worse facilitations Problem-focused aimed at understanding Less distrust and anger towards IT event Improved Diederik (62)
Challenge - High effort needed - Better performance - Moderate facilitations - Techno-downtime - Techno-invasion
Medium Moderate - General IT
knowledge - Historical consciousness Moderate facilitations Problem-focused aimed understanding Less worries, tensions and enthusiasm towards IT event Improved
Rik (52) Loss - High effort
needed - Low technology usefulness - Organizational centralization - Worse facilitations - System complexity - Techno-overload
High Moderate - General IT
knowledge - Work and life
experience Worse facilitations Emotion-focused to let go of frustrations and problem-focused aimed at changing IT event. Frustration, anger towards IT event and organization Equal Janna (58)
Thread - Social influence - High degree of control - Organizational centralization - Good facilitations - System complexity - Time pressure
High High - Work and life
25
4.2 Group 2 – Professionals between 24 to 31 years oldThis in-depth analysis is structured equally to group 1.
Young professionals distinct themselves with their attitude towards IT. They considered IT as something natural in their lives and in their professional career. For instance, Ben (25) mentioned that he could not imagine a life without IT. In addition, young professionals are very positive about IT and its opportunities. Jetty (26) said, ‘I like IT in general, because I’m interested in it. It leads to many changes, progressiveness and innovation. From my perspective, technology provides opportunities to makes things better or easier. I like how it you can improve over time. There is so much more possible for us. I think it is interesting that there is so much is possible. The limits has not yet been reached25’. Elise (31) mentioned that her attitude towards general IT differed from her older
colleagues, because she perceived IT as something that is normally present. The quote underlines young professionals’ distinct attitude towards IT.
4.2.1 Stress process
Young professionals differed in their primary appraisal of the IT event. Three young professionals (Jetty, Ben & Mabel) appraised the IT event as positive, one as a challenge (Elise) and one as a loss (Stefanie).
Young professionals appraised the IT event as positive for several reasons. Young professionals perceived a better work performance, a useful technology since the IT event took over work-related tasks and good facilitations related to the IT event. Social influence affected the positive appraisal negatively for one young professional. Despite common factors, there are variations in the stress process. First, young professionals differed on degree of involvement in the IT event project. Jetty (26) and Mabel (24) were closely involved in the IT event project, but Ben (25) not. Second, Mabel (24) who was closely involved in the project, mentioned social influence on her primary appraisal. The variations in perceived influences on primary appraisal caused different stressors. Ben (25) mentioned system that he perceived the IT itself complex, but Jetty (26) and Mabel (24) who were closely involved in the IT event project, did not. Jetty (26) said, ‘the system is very easy to handle. It programmed in such a way that there is a natural flow in the system. The system guides you to do certain steps26’. Moreover, Jetty (26)
explained her low technology complexity perception through the level of involvement. Another interesting variation among the stressors occurred with Ben (25) and Mabel (24). They mentioned that their colleagues’ ineffective coping efforts in the IT event irritated them. Ben (25) said, ‘it resulted in irritation that my colleagues from the production and purchase department have so much ego and are so surly that they do not call someone for help. It took two days. So, 16 hours, what we could have fixed in half an hour27’.For Mabel (24) involvement
in the IT event project, resulted in techno-overload and role ambiguity, because her work tasks changed. She got extra tasks related to the IT event project, what caused overload. Besides, a new colleague took some of her other
25 ‘Ik vind het persoonlijk heel leuk, omdat mijn interesse er ligt. En omdat het zorgt voor veel veranderingen, veel vooruitstrevendheid,
innovatie. Technologie zorgt er natuurlijk voor in mijn opinie dat veel dingen beter of makkelijker worden. En dan vind ik er leuk aan hoe je telkens kunt verbeteren. We zijn met technologie nog lang niet uitgegroeid in ons kunnen. Dat vind ik interessant, omdat er is nog zoveel mogelijk is. De grenzen zijn nog lang niet bereikt en dat maakt het heel interessant’ – Jetty (26).
26 ‘Omdat het systeem heel makkelijk te bedienen is en het eigenlijk zo ingesteld is dat je een natuurlijk flow in het systeem hebt. Het systeem
leidt je naar bepaalde stappen toe.’ – Jetty (26).
27 ‘Dus dan ontstaat er ergernis bij mij en mijn collega omdat de personen van productie en inkoop dat die zoveel eigenwaarde hebben en zo
