Techno-Eustress: The Impact of Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use on the Perception of Work-Related Stressors

Abstract

An extensive body of literature elaborates on the negative side of technostress. However, appraising stressors as challenges rather than as threats evidently leads to positive perceptions of stress, namely eustress. We derive from the person-environment fit model that the higher the acceptance of information and communication technologies is, the higher is the perception of eustress. As perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are proven antecedents of technology acceptance, we study how these two technology beliefs affect the perception of challenge stressors and how the challenge stressors influence the psychological response in terms of perceived eustress. We collected data from 168 employees in a web-based survey and used structural equation modeling. The results support our propositions and confirm that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are significant determinants of work-related challenge stressors enhancing the perception of eustress.