Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

Increased digitisation in higher education requires the usage of various information and communication technologies (ICTs). However, studies have shown that ICTs induce technostress. The purpose of this research is to explore how technology characteristics influence students’ technostress, and in turn their perceived academic performance. To examine this, a survey was sent out to student’s at MAU in Sweden and a bivariate analysis was conducted to analyse the data. The results showed some technology characteristics were associated with technostress, while some were not. The students’ technostress could, however, not be determined to have an association with their perceived academic performance. The study discusses possible contributing factors to the results.

The purpous of this qualitative study is to spotlight some of the followers/employess technostress concerns associated with future AI implementation in one of the Swedish public centers. The methodology used in this research is a deductive approach and primary data was collected by conducting nine semi-structured interviews with followers /mployess working at a social care center in Växjö Municipality, Sweden. The findings support that transformational leadership style can be utilized to address followers´technostress fears in the understudy social care center through enhancing followers engagement. Conclusively, transformational leadership style interaction with followers enables leader to enhance followers engagement and mitigate technostress factors generated by AI implementation.

As a result of the rapid development of technology and the implementation of it in work environments, productivity and profit can increase for an organization. Email has led to much shorter ways of communication but there are also less positive aspects of technology. Technostress, information overload and email overload are all three effects of this new ubiquitous digital era. We ask how individual information workers manage and reply to incoming email, to extend our knowledge regarding the effects of email overload on information workers, and to identify their coping strategies in their work life context. This knowledge can be used by practitioners, designers and researchers to develop email as a service further. By conducting nine qualitative interviews with information workers employed in three different organization, we found that balance in email management is important to utilize the full potential of the service, and it would be useful for individuals, as well as organizations, to establish clear rules regarding email use both within work hours, as well as on leisure time.

As workplaces have become more digitalized and improvements constantly being made in order to optimize performance, it becomes pivotal for managers to understand how stress within organizations can be linked to the information- and communication technology within them. This thesis addresses the research gap of several studies existing regarding technology-related stress, but where a majority of them are quantitative in nature and overlooking the important aspect of organizational culture. The purpose of this thesis is to create an understanding regarding how managers perceive technostress in their organization, and how counterstrategies, if any, are applied. The added value of this research is that it highlights how poorly understood the problem of information overload is amongst certain managers, while highlighting the cultural aspects within organizations and their contributions to the problem. The results show that while many aspects related to information overload are noticed by managers and employees alike, very few – if any – counterstrategies exists in order to highlight and combat the problems that information overload entails. While individual practices existed, few could be realized at an organizational level without first addressing company culture.

The purpose of this thesis was to contribute with new information within the research area, due to the low amount of secondary research regarding it. This thesis was conducted with a desire to gather primary data contributing to deeper knowledge and understanding of the gap between virtual meetings and technostress in relation to work-life balance, psychological well-being, and effectiveness. In order to conduct this research, a research design was developed in accordance with the field of research chosen to further investigate. A descriptive design with a deductive quantitative approach and the usage of an online survey sent out to a sample, with 107 valid responses, has enabled the completion of this thesis. For the analysis of the primary data collected for this study, the tool SPSS was used in order to investigate the correlations. This research concludes that a majority of the hypotheses are accurate and that technostress, in these hypotheses, does impact employees through virtual meetings in a negative way. The respondents felt that virtual meetings do in fact decrease their ability to obtain a healthy work-life balance, psychological well-being, and an effective standard. Therefore, the conclusion becomes highly recognizable as it contributes to fulfilling the distinguished gap.

This study investigates meditation apps from a user perspective. While focusing on the user, interviews with psychologists and an auto-ethnographic study of three different meditation apps were used to inform the research, enrich the findings and create an as wholesome as possible picture. The research aims to explore user’s motivations and experiences as well as the possible paradox of meditation through a smartphone in light of digital stress. Taking a user-centered approach, the theories informing this work include the Instrumental Theory of Technology; Theories of the self, including Foucault’s Practices of Selfhood and Lipton’s self-tracking practices; Existential Media Theory; and theories of the public and the private including the Publicization of the Private. This study shows that high achieving young adults use meditation apps as a convenient, accessible and cost-effective tool for self-improvement. However, users mainly see the apps as a stepping block and have the goal to eventually establish a meditation practice without using the phone. While users think that it would be better to meditate without an app, their meditation app allows them to fit the meditation practice into the context of their busy everyday life.

Dagens samhälle och dess individer lever i ett överflöd av information tillhandahållen av den teknik som benämns informations- och kommunikationsteknik, ICT. Samtidigt som denna tekniska utveckling bidrar till stora framsteg för samhället påverkar den individer på sätt som ännu ej blivit fullt synliga. Forskning pekar på att svenskar sover allt mindre och att denna myriad av ICT kan vara en orsakande faktor. Studien syftar att besvara frågan om fråntagandet av ICT-användning tätt inpå sänggående har en påverkan på sömnkvaliteten. Genom att frånta individer möjligheten till interaktion med ICT i samband med sänggående erhålls såväl kvantitativ som kvalitativ data som styrker att teknikanvändandet påverkar sömnen. Dessa data insamlas med hjälp av dagböcker, enkäter samt registrering av sömn via sömnapplikation för en smartphone. Studien visar att användandet av ICT tätt inpå sänggående i stort har en negativ effekt på sömnkvalitet. Dock existerar yttre krav från samhället att en individ idag skall ha tillgång till ICT under dygnets alla timmar, detta skapar stress vid fråntagande av densamma. Stora individuella skillnader finns och yttre faktorer kan ha en stor inverkan på dessa individers sömn.  Utifrån studiens resultat rekommenderas att ICT-användning tätt inpå sänggående begränsas eller avstås från för att möjliggöra avslappning och öka sömnkvaliteten. / In society today individuals are living in an abundance of information provided by the technology known as information and communication technology, or in short ICT. While this technological development contributes to major advances in society, individuals are affected by it in ways yet unknown. Research indicates that Swedes are sleeping less and that this plethora of ICT can be a contributing factor. This study aims to answer the question whether deprivation from use of ICT just prior to bedtime has an effect on the quality of sleep. By depriving individuals of the opportunity to interact with ICT in connection with bedtime the study acquires both qualitative and quantitative data, showing that the use of technology affects sleep. This data is obtained through diaries, questionnaires and by registering sleep using a sleep application for a smartphone. The study shows, at large, that the use of ICT just prior to going to bed has a negative effect on the quality of sleep. However, existing external demands from society that an individual today should have access to ICT at all hours creates stress when deprived from it. Between individuals large differences exist and external factors can have a major impact on these individuals' sleep. Based on the results from this study it is recommended that ICT use just prior to bedtime should be limited or completely excluded in order to allow for relaxation and improved sleep quality.

Mobilnotifikationer är ett relativt nytt fenomen och mobilanvändare idag får allt fler notifikationer skickade till sig per dag. Hur de faktiskt påverkar användare, både sett till mobilanvändning och användarbeteenden, är fortfarande ett tämligen outforskat område. Denna studie utforskar hur mobilnotifikationer påverkar studenters upplevda stressnivåer och fokus under schemalagda skolaktiviteter. För att undersöka detta jämfördes en normal vecka med en vecka då notifikationer tystades med hjälp av stör-ej-funktionen i mobiltelefonen. Under denna period loggades mobilanvändningen och deltagarna fick föra en dagbok för reflektioner kring sitt beteende under dagen. Undersökningen avslutades med semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Resultaten av undersökningen visade att mobilanvändningen höll en jämn nivå under hela undersökningen. Ingen stress upplevdes av deltagarna i samband med mottagna notifikationer i skolmiljön, däremot upplevdes bättre fokus då stör-ej-funktionen aktiverades och notifikationerna tystades. Ett samband mellan få antal mottagna notifikationer och bättre upplevt fokus upptäcktes.  Undersökningen har även haft ett metodologiskt syfte då fler undersökningar krävs i detta område. En slutsats vi drar efter avslutad studie är att tillvägagångsättet lämpar sig bra för att jämföra upplevd med faktisk mobilanvändning. Kombinationen dagbok och semi-strukturerade intervjuer var även ett bra tillvägagångssätt för att fånga upp deltagarnas beteenden och reflektioner. / The average user receives approximately 46 smartphone notifications every day. But there is little research regarding how users are affected by them. In this paper we assess the impact of mobile notifications in learning situations with regards to perceived stress and focus. This was achieved by monitoring the users’ mobile usage during two weeks. The first week, they proceeded as normal. During the second week they were asked to activate the do-not-disturb mode during scheduled school activities. During this time their mobile usage was documented both through software and from daily occurring survey. This was followed up by semi-structured group interviews. The results showed that the mobile usage remained the same during the second week. The participants were not stressed at all but there was an increase in perceived focus when the do-not-disturb mode was switched on. The results show a relation between a low number of received notifications and increased perceived focus. The study was also carried out with a methodological purpose, since the area is rather new. We came to the conclusion that the method is appropriate for investigating the differences between perceived and actual mobile usage. The study was successful in its implementation of daily occurring surveys and semi structured interviews. This combination allowed for great user reflections.