Countering effects of technostress on productivity : moderating role of proactive personality

Purpose: Too much reliance on information technology has given rise to technostress, which may impact the productivity of an individual. In case this is true, does it impact everyone equally, and if not, then what is behind this difference and how does this work? The purpose of the present research is to explore the role of proactive personality as a moderator to the relationship of individual productivity of an employee and the technostress. The study utilizes moderation technique to study and analyze the relationships. Design/methodology/approach: The present work is an attempt to investigate the moderating role of proactive personality to the relationship between technostress and productivity by utilizing the concepts from person–environment fit model. Moderation analysis has been performed with the help of hierarchical multiple regression on the primary data collected via survey methods with the help of structure instruments. Findings: A survey was conducted from 233 employees working at different levels in different organizations belonging to north-western parts of the country. After analyzing the randomly collected primary data, it was found that technostress impacts productivity negatively. It was also further established that relationship between technostress and individual productivity gets moderated by proactive personality. Research limitations/implications: Strategies concerning implementation and designing of a training program should be designed by being mindful of the individual personalities going to be trained. Practical implications: From organizational point of view, a training program (made to introduce and implement some new technology in the organization) should be tailored by keeping individuals' personalities and their specific needs in mind. Originality/value: This work is an important addition to the existing literature concerning technostress. Such work would help in understanding the difference that a human factor may have on the bearings of technostress on productivity and other such crucial outcomes, which has not been studied earlier in the present context.