Title: (Techno)stress and subsequent burnout: how job autonomy enables working professionals to regulate demands with control

Authors: Matej Černe; Aldijana Bunjak; Sut-I Wong; Darija Aleksić; Katerina Božič

Addresses: School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva ploščad 17, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia ' School of Business and Law, University of Stavanger, Kjell Arholms gate 41, 4021 Stavanger, Norway ' BI Norwegian Business School, Nydalsveien 37, 0484 Oslo, Norway ' School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva ploščad 17, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia ' School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva ploščad 17, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract: This paper focuses on how technostress relates to job stress, and subsequently results in burnout in digitised workplaces. We also propose that job autonomy can buffer the negative effect of technostress. We test our model in a four-wave longitudinal study of working professionals from a nationally representative quota sample (n = 198 employees contributing 792 observations). The results of the study supported our hypothesised model, highlighting that autonomy represents a crucial job design element that mitigates the effects of technostress on burnout over time. Our contributions complement existing research on technostress, specifically narrowing in on short- versus long-term negative outcomes of this phenomenon, and advancing research on stress and burnout in traditional work settings that adopted the high technology use. From a practical perspective, we provide guidelines for organisations on how to maintain the most appropriate ways of designing contemporary jobs that are inherently embedded in technology.

Keywords: technostress; information communication technology; ICT; job stress; burnout; job autonomy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2025.149132

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2025 Vol.20 No.4, pp.367 - 388

Received: 11 May 2023
Accepted: 31 Jan 2024
Published online: 15 Oct 2025 *

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