The Role of Techno-Stress and Psychological Detachment in the Relationship between Workload and Well-Being in a Sample of Italian Smart Workers: A Moderated Mediated Model

Abstract

Well-being conditions at work are determined by the balance between the demands from the organizational context and the perception of people to possess resources concerning the ability to cope with such requests. The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has changed working conditions, and employees have had to adapt to smart working (SW) by bringing new resources into play to meet new demands. Many organizations are questioning how to implement SW after the pandemic. According to the JD-R model, the present study considered workload during smart working and Techno-stress (the perceived stress concerning the use of technologies) as new requests (i.e., demands) coming from the organization and Psychological Detachment (the ability to create psychological distancing from work) as a personal resource. We investigated the moderator role of Psychological Detachment in the relationship between workload in SW and Well-being, mediated by Techno-stress (in its three dimensions: Techno-Overload, Techno-Invasion, and Techno-Complexity). The sample is made up of 622 Italian public administration employees who completed a questionnaire containing the following scales: Quantitative Workload Inventory, Well-being Index, Psychological Detachment, Techno-stress Creator Scale. Mediation and moderate-mediation models have been tested with PROCESS Macro. Findings showed that Techno-Invasion and Techno-Complexity fully mediate the relationship between workload in SW and well-being. Psychological detachment moderates the effect of the workload on Well-being, which in turn is mediated by Techno-Invasion. Furthermore, findings suggest the importance of identifying protective factors that can mitigate the workload effects on the employees’ well-being in SW.

The new normal of remote work: exploring individual and organizational factors affecting work-related outcomes and well-being in academia

“…Finally, since techno-complexity can occur when individuals are forced to make efforts to understand how to use new technologies without the necessary skills, using new technologies in remote working needs acquiring new skills, which can significantly affect the relative perception of complexity in using them and, consequently, individuals' well-being. As suggested by our findings, this can happen mainly when employees are not supported in the adoption of these new technologies, for example, by adequate training (Mondo et al, 2023;Schettino et al, 2024) that, thereby, should be implemented to avoid such a stress and improve employees' well-being and performance.…”

“…The authors argued that flexible work arrangements can benefit staff as they can help reduce stress. A subsequent study conducted in the post-pandemic period ( Mondo et al, 2023 ) examined the relationships between workload during remote work and technostress among Italian public administration employees who were working remotely. The results showed that techno-invasion and techno-complexity played as mediators between workload and well-being.…”

Enhancing Productivity at Home: The Role of Smart Work and Organizational Support in the Public Sector

“…Several studies have highlighted how the use of new technology in smart working [28] without adequate training [29,30], specific competencies [31], and technical support [32] could cause work overload. At the same time, other studies have underlined that when combined with complementary organizational changes, investments in technology lead to improved performance [33][34][35].…”