Linking User Age and Stress in the Interruption Era: The Role of Computer Experience

Abstract

The workforce is rapidly growing older; especially the number of older workers (60 years and over) is increasing sharply. At the same time, the number of interruptions mediated by modern information technologies is growing rapidly. These interruptions include, for example, instant messages and email notifications. Recent research has shown that interruptions have harmful consequences for workers as they can lead to stress. Interruptions might be especially problematic for older workers, implying severe problems for this fast-growing group of users regarding their well-being and performance at work. This study proposes that older workers perceive more interruption-based technostress than their younger counterparts because of differences in computer experience between older and younger individuals. Thus, the study answers recent calls for exploring users’ age as a substantive variable in IS research, and it also contributes to the literature on technostress by demonstrating how technostress might affect certain groups of users more than others.