Dark Side of Digital Working, 2022

To obtain a free account please register with the UKDA.

The increased reliance on digital working due to Covid-19 and subsequent hybrid work styles has highlighted both the advantages and potential pitfalls of digital workplace technologies. The digital workplace can enable greater worker autonomy and flexibility but may also come with pitfalls such as technostress, information overload and computer anxiety. Such dark side effects have been shown to have adverse potentials for employee health, potentially leading to stress, work-life conflict, burnout and poorer health. While there has been a surge in research in this domain lately, there is still an absence of a cohesive perspective encompassing different fields, technologies, negative effects, and outcomes. There is value in collating and juxtaposing findings and theoretical methodologies. In addition, research in this domain is primarily quantitative in methodology thereby potentially obscuring the lived experiences of workers in the digital workplace. Job-Demands Resources model, which has been extensively adopted in the stress literature, was used as a theoretical foundation. The model includes a health impairment pathway in which prolonged exposure to job demands may lead to stress and burnout. It has been used in the dark side of digital working literature to explore the health impacts of digital working. In this study, 14 workers who use technology daily were recruited via the Prolific platform and interviewed regarding their experiences of the dark side effects (stress, overload, anxiety, Fear of Missing Out and addiction) and any well-being impacts. Questions were also asked about mindfulness and digital workplace confidence as potential personal resources to mitigate negative well-being outcomes. A semi-structured interview format was used in order to allow flexibility in exploring participants’ experiences of the dark side aspects of digital working. Digital workplace technologies are powerful enablers inside modern organizations but also pose threats for employee well-being. Using the Job-Demands Resources model as a theoretical foundation, 14 workers were interviewed regarding their experiences of the digital workplace dark side effects (stress, overload, anxiety, Fear of Missing Out and addiction) and any well-being impacts. Questions were also asked about mindfulness and digital workplace confidence as potential personal resources to mitigate negative well-being outcomes.