Uncovering the intervening mechanisms in the relationship between technological stressors and individual and work-related consequences

Abstract

This study examined how workplace telepressure and cyber incivility, as work-related stressors, affect individual and work-related outcomes in hospitality employees, using a mixed-methods approach. After developing a draft, following a thorough literature review and interviews with hotel staff, the drafted questions were refined through a pre-test and a pilot test. Finally, the main survey was conducted with 792 hotel staff in China. Structural equation modeling was performed using Mplus (Version 8.3) to test both direct and serial mediating effects. It was found that workplace telepressure and cyber incivility, through the serial mediating effect of technostress and poor mental health, had a significant impact on work–life wellbeing and work pleasure as individual-related outcomes, and on service recovery failure and service delay response as work-related outcomes. The findings may help in managing employees’ individual-related and work-related stressors triggered by modern digital technologies.