Techno-stressors, distress and strain: the roles of leadership and competitive climates

While many studies have suggested that techno-stressors lead to employee distress, much less is known regarding the organizational climate variables that can influence how employees experience techno-stress. We theorize that (1) leadership and competitive climates in organizational units can contribute, in addition to the existence of techno-stressors, to the stress employee experience, (2) such climate variables also serve as regulators that moderate the translation of techno-stressors into stress, and (3) this stress increases work exhaustion. The proposed model was tested in two studies/cases (n1 = 175 state government employees in the US, n2 = 178 IT professionals from Italian firms), each focusing on one climate facet (leadership and competitive climates, correspondingly). The findings suggest that high leadership climate and low competitive climate prevent the translation of techno-stressors into distress, and can serve as buffers for reducing adverse organizational consequences of techno-stressors.