Technostress, relational support, and job satisfaction in digitally intensive work environments: A Conservation of Resources perspective
TL;DR
It is suggested that employee well-being depends on supportive leader–employee relationships and the alignment between technological systems and human capabilities and that LMX should not be characterized as a general or validated buffering mechanism against technostress.
Abstract
The increasing integration of digital technologies into organizational work systems has heightened concerns about employee well-being. Drawing on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study examines how technology-related stress influences job satisfaction and explores the moderating role of leader–member exchange (LMX). Rather than focusing on artificial intelligence (AI)-specific technologies, the study investigates technology-related stress arising from employees’ interactions with contemporary digital work systems and organizational technologies. Survey data from 257 employees in South Korean banking organizations were analyzed using hierarchical regression. Results showed that all five dimensions of technostress—techno-overload, techno-invasion, techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty—were negatively associated with job satisfaction. Only one interaction effect (techno-overload × LMX) reached statistical significance. However, this finding should be interpreted cautiously because all variables were obtained from the same self-report survey and stronger controls for common method bias were not available. These findings suggest that employee well-being depends on supportive leader–employee relationships and the alignment between technological systems and human capabilities. The remaining four interaction terms were not significant, and this predominantly null pattern indicates that LMX should not be characterized as a general or validated buffering mechanism against technostress in this study.