The adoption of new technologies has revolutionized teaching and learning in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the last few decades, particularly during the recent pandemic crisis. Although the adoption of technology affords many benefits and conveniences to educators and students, increasing evidence has highlighted the escalating stressors connected to the adoption of technologies in and beyond classrooms for academics. This phenomenon is also coined as technostress, which refers to a “disease of adaptation” caused by an individual's failure to cope with technological change in a healthy way. The struggle to adapt to technological changes can directly or indirectly impact academics' physical health, mental and psychological well-being, and job performance. Therefore, this chapter aims to 1) understand what is technostress, (2) identify sources of technostress, (3) examine technostress in higher education (HE), and (4) highlight strategies to mitigate technostress.
TopIntroduction
In the last two decades, many higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world have invested on an array of technologies to improve the mode of pedagogical delivery and facilities. The adoption of new technologies in HEIs is viewed as a positive transformation towards establishing graduates who are ready for Industry 4.0. These new technologies include, but are not limited to, mobile technologies (e.g., smartphone, tablets, and laptops), network technologies (e.g., the Internet), communication technologies (e.g., e-mail), and generic application technologies (e.g., for word processing) (Ayyagari, Grover, & Purvis, 2011). These technologies have been recognized to promote productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness that leads to competitive workplaces. Thus, HEIs have begun to adopt these new technologies to be more competitive in attracting students into the institution. Such competition to adopt new technologies in higher education (HE) has led to new stressors for academics. The term “technostress” was coined by Brod (1984), which defines an individual’s failure to adopt and adapt to technological changes, causing him or her to experience psychological and physical stress.
Technostress has been more prevalent amidst the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Academics have been required to adopt and adapt to using new mobile technologies for teaching during lockdowns. Many HEIs were thrown into a frenzy of setting up new online learning platforms and utilizing mobile technologies to deliver courses. Sudden changes to adopt technology in teaching can cause academics to feel frustrated and stressed (Bahri, Fauzi, & Ahmad, 2020; Haque, Aston, & Widyanti, 2021; Shin & Jung, 2014; Halupa & Bolliger, 2020; Meyer, 2014), which can be classified as occupational stress. Leow and Leow (2022) noted that occupational stress can impact employees’ abilities to be productive and efficient within organizations. The stress of needing to learn and adopt technology at a fast pace within the profession can cause academics to feel burnout (Leow & Leow, 2022).
During the COVD-19 pandemic lockdowns, academics were also asked to be more engaging with students through the use of mobile technologies. This has raised a significant challenge for many faculty and educators around the world due to the urgent and unexpected request to switch their teaching modality and communication to virtual or mobile platforms. The abrupt switch, without any preparation and readiness, have left many academics feeling frustrated and stressed (Zeeshan, Chaudhry, & Khan, 2020). Inadequate training, lack of resources, and digital skills directly contribute towards technostress that is experienced by many academics (Penado Abilleira, Rodicio-García, Ríos-de Deus, & Mosquera-González, 2021).
Although much evidence has shown that new technologies benefit students’ learning, other studies have also highlighted the “dark side” of implementing new technologies in HEIs and the workplace. Recent trends of using new and mobile technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic have caused academics to feel burnt out, frustrated, and stressed (Atabek, 2020; Huang & Zhang, 2019; Phan & Sethu, 2021; Salanova, Llorens, & Cifre, 2013). Research has pointed out the drawbacks of using new and mobile technologies that are now beginning to become more apparent, especially when academics were required to conduct most of their courses online during the COVID-19 pandemic (Chung & Mathew, 2020; Nguyen, 2018; Oliveira, Grenha Teixeira, Torres & Morais, 2021). Hence, this chapter will provide an understanding on technostress, the sources or cause of technostress, as well as ways to mitigate this phenomenon in today’s higher education context.