Theorizing the Dual Role of Information Technology in Technostress Research

While recent research has studied Information Technology (IT) as a job stressor, others have proposed IT to be a means to reduce the impacts of job stressors by facilitating communication and coordination, by providing information for better decision making, and by encouraging faithful appropriation. This research proposes both the stress inducing and stress relieving roles that IT might play on employee burnout, job satisfaction, and turnover. Following the job demands-resources model, this research posit that job resources such as IT communication, IT information and IT appropriation support may play a role in mitigating employees’ job stress. We further theorize the moderating role of these job resources on the relationships between other job stressors and burnout. The proposed model provides researchers a holistic view to understand the net effect IT can have on employees by considering simultaneously both the stress inducing and stress relieving component of IT.