Managing The Risk Of Overusing Mobile Phones In The Working Environment: A Study Of Ubiquitous Technostress

Despite the advantages IT has brought to the users, it can also invisibly produce negative impacts at the same time. There have been many cases in recent years showing that mobile technology users receive various kinds of negative feelings due to the ubiquitous nature of this technology. The purpose of this study is to propose a notion termed “ubiquitous technostress” which is the stress caused by over using mobile technologies. Based on a review of the literature, a model of the creators and consequences of ubiquitous technostress in organizations is formed in order to help managers better understand the causes and consequent effects of this particular type of stress. A survey was conducted on employees who use mobile phones routinely in their work, and 714 questionnaires were received that included 622 valid ones. Through the empirical results, we found that ubiquitous technostress creators have a positive effect on employees’ job stress, yet a negative effect on their productivity. Stress inhibitors (stress management training, job control, organizational rewards) do not have an effect on employees’ job stress but on their productivity. When employees feel stressed the most negative impact will be on their productivity. This study suggests that ubiquitous technostress does exist in organizations and has an invisible impact on employees.