The impact of different organizational environments on technostress: Exploring and understanding the bright and dark sides before and during Covid-19

The pandemic, Covid-19 has brought about digital transformations that are causing challenges in the world of work, such as increased technostress, which is stress caused by the use of ICTs. Although this condition can negatively impact individuals’ well-being and organizational outcomes, the typical conceptualization of technostress as a “dark phenomenon” overlooks its “bright side”, known as techno-eustress. Research in this area is minimal, which was identified as a research gap that this team was motivated to overcome by forming the aim: To explore, understand and explain the management and duality of technostress in different organizational environments. Using the themes of organizational culture and trust, a qualitative two-phase study used for analysis an interpretivist approach. The sample population of 12 individuals was drawn using a non-random, snowball, purposive and convenience sampling. Twenty-four Semi-structured interviews were conducted before and during the Covid-19 lockdowns and analysed using thematic analysis and open-coding drawn from Grounded Theory. The findings showed that an environment of low centralization and high innovation amplified individuals’ techno-eustress perceptions both, when working in organizational premises and remotely. Conversely, lower levels of trust in more traditional organizations were found to intensify techno-distress, reducing job performance, engagement and job satisfaction