Grappling with modern technology: interruptions mediated by mobile devices impact older workers disproportionately

Stefan Tams (), Varun Grover (), Jason Thatcher () and Manju Ahuja ()
Additional contact information
Stefan Tams: HEC Montréal
Varun Grover: University of Arkansas
Jason Thatcher: Temple University
Manju Ahuja: University of Louisville

Information Systems and e-Business Management, 2022, vol. 20, issue 4, No 2, 635-655

Abstract: Abstract Mobile technologies have dramatically increased the number of work-related interruptions. In many organizations, employees must remain accessible and respond to these technology-mediated (T-M) interruptions even after regular work hours. Thus, demands from work interruptions can spill over into workers’ evening and family time, entailing role stress. Ultimately, workers can shy away from using the technologies they deem responsible, with negative impacts for organizations. This implies an indirect effect of demands from T-M interruptions through workers’ experiences of role stress on the use of mobile technology for work. At the same time, the workforce is aging rapidly, and there is a strong reason to assume that older workers may be significantly more susceptible to the negative impacts of interruptions than their younger counterparts. Therefore, the focus of this research is on examining whether the indirect effect of demands from T-M interruptions via workers’ experiences of role stress on the use of mobile technology depends on age such that it is stronger for older workers. Data collected from 135 younger and 137 older knowledge workers supported this idea. The data also show that experience with mobile devices can help older users manage the consequences of interruptions more effectively. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Keywords: Interruptions; Age; Older users; Mobile technologies; IT use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10257-021-00526-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:infsem:v:20:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10257-021-00526-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ystems/journal/10257

DOI: 10.1007/s10257-021-00526-3

Access Statistics for this article

Information Systems and e-Business Management is currently edited by Jörg Becker and Michael J. Shaw

More articles in Information Systems and e-Business Management from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().