BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY: ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY AND WORK-BASED SOCIAL SUPPORT IN UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACTS OF TECHNOSTRESS

Abstract

With the advancement of Information Communication Technologies characterising evolving work contexts, employees are increasingly exposed to high levels of stress when dealing with novel, ambiguous new technology. This phenomenon is known as technostress. Using a sample of 208 full-time employed individuals, aged 25 – 55, surveyed in a two-wave study, this paper seeks to investigate how technostress affects job insecurity, cyber-loafing and knowledge hiding behaviours. Firstly, technostress is found to be positively related to job insecurity and knowledge hiding. Next, psychological safety of the team climate was discovered to mediate the relationship between technostress and job insecurity, and knowledge hiding. While work-based social support was found to buffer the association between technostress and job insecurity, work-based social support strengthened the association between technostress and knowledge hiding. In considering the impact of psychological safety and work- based social support on job insecurity and knowledge hiding, this study sheds new light on the role of social resources in mitigating the impacts of technostress. Theoretical contributions and practical implications of these findings are also discussed.