Understanding the Effect of Techno-interruptions in the Workplace

Technostress focuses on individuals’ struggle to deal with the cognitive and social requirements derived from the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). Researchers have explored this phenomenon by studying the demands imposed by the use of ICTs on workers (e.g. fear of losing one’s job due to ICT). However, researchers in this domain have not investigated how the stress generated with technology-mediated interruptions (henceforth to be referred to as “technorruptions”) can affect individuals at the workplace. This work in progress study aims to understand the mechanisms through which technorruptions affect individuals’ experiences with ICTs within the work context. In doing so, the study introduces the concept of Perceived Technorruption Severity (PTS) to measure individuals’ appraisal of technorruptions. In addition, it proposes a research model to understand the impacts of PTS on individuals using ICTs during a work meeting, which will be validated using a survey-based study and structural equation modeling techniques.