Uprooting Technostress: Digital Leadership Empowering Employee Well-Being in the Era of Industry 4.0

Panteha Farmanesh, Asim Vehbi and Niloofar Solati Dehkordi ()
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Panteha Farmanesh: Faculty of Communication, Arkin University of Creative Arts & Design, 99300 Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus, Turkey
Asim Vehbi: Faculty of Communication, Arkin University of Creative Arts & Design, 99300 Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus, Turkey
Niloofar Solati Dehkordi: Faculty of Communication, Arkin University of Creative Arts & Design, 99300 Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus, Turkey

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 19, 1-19

Abstract: This study investigates the influence of technostress (Tech) on the well-being (WB) of employees in manufacturing sectors employing Industry 4.0 in Turkey, examining the effect of work exhaustion (WE) as a mediator in the association between technostress and well-being. How digital leadership (Dg) moderates these relationships is analyzed and discussed accordingly. This article also presents strategies for digital leaders to mitigate employees’ technostress in the digital transformation era and discusses their positive role. Using the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) framework and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, data were gathered from 329 workers employed at three manufacturing firms located in Istanbul. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test this study’s hypothesis. The results indicate that increased technostress notably reduces employee well-being, primarily because it heightens work exhaustion. Moreover, robust digital leadership effectively lessens these negative impacts, underscoring its value in managing technological stress. This research explains the importance of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3) for better health and well-being practices in workplaces. It suggests practical implications for organizations, including developing digital leadership skills, routinely assessing technostress, and applying targeted actions to sustain employee health during digital shifts.

Keywords: technostress; well-being; work exhaustion; digital leadership; Industry 4.0; SDG (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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