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

Abstract

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 techno-stressors, 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.