How do users respond to technostress? An empirical analysis of proactive and reactive coping

As technostress costs organizations financial resources and threatens the well-being, it is essential for users as well as companies to manage technostress. To do so, users cope proactive by removing or reducing techno-stressors or reactive by restoring users’ emotional state. However, literature is limited by explaining what factors lead to proactive and reactive coping in a short-term technostress situation. The present paper addresses these shortcomings by investigating in how techno-stressors and emotional exhaustion influences proactive and reactive coping. Results based on 110 users show that users respond to techno-stressors in a proactive way, whereas users reactively respond to emotional exhaustion. In addition, proactive coping is stronger affected by technostressors, and reactive coping is stronger affected by emotional exhaustion. Thereby, we contribute to technostress and coping literature by demonstrating how users respond in short-term technostress situation and highlight the importance of time in the present context.

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