Workaholism and Technostress During the COVID-19 Emergency: The Crucial Role of the Leaders on Remote Working
Open accessAbstract
Although remote working can involve positive outcomes both for employees and organizations, in the case of the sudden and forced remote working situation that came into place during the COVID-19 crisis there have also been reports of negative aspects, one of which is technostress. In this context of crisis, leadership is crucial in sustainably managing and supporting employees, especially employees with workaholic tendencies who are more prone to developing negative work and health outcomes. However, while research on the role of the positive aspects of leadership during crises does exist, the negative aspects of leadership during the COVID-19 crisis have not yet been studied. The present study aimed to explore the role of authoritarian leadership in a sample of 339 administrative university employees who worked either completely from home or from home and the workplace. The study examined the moderating effect of a manager on this relationship and the connections between workaholism and technostress through conditional process analysis. Results pointed out that high authoritarian leadership had an enhancing effect, whereas low authoritarian leadership had a protective effect on the relationship between workaholism and technostress, only in the group of complete remote workers. Thus, authoritarian leadership should be avoided and training leaders to be aware of its effect appears to be essential. Limitations, future directions for the study, and practical implications are also discussed.
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Authoritarian leadership has a direct positive impact on technostress.
“Authoritarian leadership has a direct positive impact on technostress.Authoritarian leadership moderates the impact workaholism has for remote workers”
From Leadership and technostress: A systematic literature review (2025) · cites this paper as Spagnoli et al. (2020)
In the Results (Table 2; page unavailable), authoritarian leadership has a positive coefficient for technostress (B = 0.56, confidence interval 0.07–1.04). But the paper describes a relationship in a sample of remote-working university staff, not an established direct causal impact; its Discussion also emphasizes that leadership’s moderating effect was particularly evident among fully remote workers. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAuthoritarian leadership moderates the impact workaholism has for remote workers.
“Authoritarian leadership has a direct positive impact on technostress.Authoritarian leadership moderates the impact workaholism has for remote workers”
From Leadership and technostress: A systematic literature review (2025) · cites this paper as Spagnoli et al. (2020)
The Results report that authoritarian leadership moderated the relationship between workaholism and technostress, but the effect was significant only for employees working remotely full time, not those alternating between remote and on-site work. The claim omits that distinction and does not specify technostress as the outcome. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredLeadership moderates the impact of individual factors such as workaholism and preference for computer work on technostress and technostress-related outcomes.
“Moreover, leadership has been shown to moderate the impact of individual factors like workaholism (Spagnoli et al. 2020) or the level of preference for computer work (Harris and Marett 2009) on technostress and technostress-related outcomes.”
From Leadership and technostress: A systematic literature review (2025) · cites this paper as Spagnoli et al. 2020
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- Authors
- Spagnoli, P., Molino, M., Molinaro, D., Giancaspro, M. L., Manuti, A., & Ghislieri, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (IT)
- University of Turin (IT)
- University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Spagnoli, Paola
- ORCID
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2020-12-23
- Volume
- 11
- Pages
- 620310-620310
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7786603
- OpenAlex
- W3117614888
- Cited by
- 209
- References
- 72
- Citations by year
- 2026: 32 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 19
- FWCI
- 32.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Institutional Research Information System University of Turin (University of Turin) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (submittedVersion)
- CINECA IRIS Institutional Research Information System (University of Bari Aldo Moro) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Technostress in Professional Settings
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Workaholism, burnout, and well-being
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Keywords
- workaholism, technostress, authoritarian leadership, remote work, COVID-19 pandemic, leadership training, employee well-being
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