Self-management of technostress: Using a questionnaire to evaluate technostress tendency

This study was conducted to examine the self management of technostress using a questionnaire to evaluate technostress tendency. Technostress self- management was motivated by awareness of technostress tendency based on the results of a questionnaire and was practiced by following advice on how to mitigate technostress tendency. Two hundred and eight subjects were asked to complete a questionnaire designed to evaluate technostress tendency. Using these data, subjects who had high technostress tendency were chosen and were given the following information and guidance: 1) brief explanation of technostress, 2) results of questionnaire, 3) advice on how to mitigate technostress tendency. After 2 months, a second survey was conducted to evaluate any change in technostress tendency and to obtain reports from subjects on their activities during the previous 2 months. The Wilcoxon 2 sample test was used to compare the technostress tendency scores of the tow surveys. Of 190 subjects who responded to the 1st survey, 57 subjects had high technostress tendency. Among these, 48 subjects (23 showing a techno- centered tendency, 25 showing a techno-anxious tendency) replied the second survey. Results showed mitigation of techno-centered tendency in 21 subjects (91%) and that of techno-anxious tendency in 21 subjects (84%). Based on the reports of those subjects, efforts to change activities and thoughts in order to mitigate technostress tendency were investigated. Analysis showed that the technostress tendency scores of the 2nd survey were significantly lower than those of the 1st survey for both techno-centered tendency and techno-anxious tendency (p< 0.01, p < 0.01). This indicates that awareness of one's own technostress tendency can encourage individuals to pay increased attention to technostress and to recognize the importance of self-management of technostress tendency. It also indicates that self-management of technostress tendency based on such motives had a noticeable effect. In addition, it suggests that self-management encouraged by self-awareness of technostress tendency was especially effective in mitigating techno-centered tendency with less self-consciousness.