Perception and Management of Work Interruptions among Digital Business Professionals: An Updated Study

Volker Seiler (), Fabian J. Stangl () and René Riedl ()
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Volker Seiler: Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, School of Management
Fabian J. Stangl: University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Digital Business Institute, School of Business and Management
René Riedl: University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Digital Business Institute, School of Business and Management

A chapter in Shaping the Digital Future Through Innovation and Practice, 2026, pp 303-320 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The modern workplace has been profoundly transformed by the widespread integration of digital technologies, fundamentally changing the way individuals conduct business and interact within their work environments. However, this digital transformation has also created a major problem relevant to both research and practice: the ubiquitous prevalence of work interruptions (e.g., receiving unexpected emails or instant messages while focused on a task). Against this background, we conducted a qualitative study to allow digital business professionals to describe their general perception and management of interruptions. As a result, we validate and refine a category system developed in a previous study on specific interruption types, quantify their outcomes on psychological well-being and work performance, and examine how they are handled, thus filling gaps in the existing literature on interruption perception and management. Overall, this category system can serve as a valuable foundation for future interruption science research.

Keywords: Interruption science; Interruption perception; Interruption management; Work interruptions; Qualitative research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-08489-7_21

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