Exploring the effects of excessive texting through mobile applications on students' technostress and academic writing skills in the arabic language

Abstract

This study aims to develop a model to examine the influence of excessive mobile application (app) texting on technostress and academic writing skills in the Arabic language among undergraduates in higher education. In this study, the person-technology (P-T) fit model was used as a means of exploring the effect of excessive mobile app texting on students' levels of technostress and the influence of these factors on their academic writing skills. The sample was comprised of 235 undergraduate students who were selected by random sampling. The study proposed a model comprised of several factors that assist in answering the study questions. These factors are the following: 'excessive mobile apps texting', 'techno-overload', 'techno-invasion', 'techno-complexity', 'accuracy', 'clarity', 'cohesiveness', and 'vocabulary'. A developed questionnaire was employed as the main data collection method to obtain relevant information regarding excessive mobile app texting, mobile technostress, and students' academic writing skills. A quantitative research method via structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. The results showed that excessive mobile app texting and mobile technostress, including techno-overload, techno-invasion, and techno-complexity, have negative influences (through both direct and indirect effects) on students' academic writing skills, including accuracy, clarity, cohesiveness, and vocabulary. Several pedagogical and technical implications are suggested at the end of this study.