Semester of Gradation
Summer 2025
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration
Department
Information Systems and Security
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Aaron French
Second Advisor
John D'Arcy
Third Advisor
Reza Vaezi
Abstract
Once utilitarian, company systems increasingly include game-like features such as leaderboards, points, and badges to increase employee engagement and motivate system use. Combinations of these elements create gamification affordances, which are experience-based action opportunities that employees can engage in. However, in the work environment, these affordances can also lead to feelings of stress. Research on technology-related stress, technostress, does not adequately explain the emergence of stress in this motivated context through the existing frameworks. Drawing from the transactional theory of stress and coping, feedback from gamified systems acts as stimuli to be appraised for the magnitude, valence, and identity involvement of any threats posed, as well as potential individual coping options. Identity involvement has been underdeveloped as a coping mechanism in stress research generally and in technostress specifically as it relates to identity threats. Using a two-study, mixed methods approach, this study first identified through a qualitative critical incident technique interview four emergent gamification affordances during technostress formation. A second study then quantitatively examines how feedback, competition, rewards, and visibility of achievement affordances, in addition to the existing technostress creators, influence the formation of technostress as moderated through identity. The results showed IT identity moderated the classical technostress creators, while gamification affordances did not contribute to the formation of technostress. The results of this study will inform organizations and system designers with a more complete understanding of how gamification affordances can adversely impact employee technostress formation uniquely in a gamified work environment.
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