Technostress: introduction to the concept and group differences on a sample of Croatian employees

Abstract

The goal of the research was to present the phenomenon of technostress among Croatian employees, whereby technostress refers to “a negative psychological state associated with the current use or the threat of using information and communication technologies in the future”. An online questionnaire, composed of the Technostress Scale (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008) and a general data questionnaire, was completed by 259 Croatian employees recruited using the snowball method. The results showed that statistically significantly higher levels of technostress were reported by women, older and less educated participants, compared to men, younger and more educated. Lower levels of technostress are reported by participants who attend digital education during working hours and do not work more than 40 hours per week, nor do they work in the IT sector. The findings of this pioneering research could stimulate the discussion about technostress in the Croatian scientific community and make organizations aware of possible protective and risk factors in the prevention of technostress.