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Cited by 377Technostress in Professional SettingsInformation Systems Theories and ImplementationJob Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior

How Does the Use of Information Communication Technology Affect Individuals? A Work Design Perspective

Open access
Wang, Bin, Liu, Yukun, Parker, Sharon K.·2020·Academy of Management Annals
DOI 10.5465/annals.2018.0127
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Abstract

People design and use technology for work. In return, technology shapes work and people. As information communication technology (ICT) becomes ever more embedded in today’s increasingly digital organizations, the nature of our jobs and employees’ work experiences are strongly affected by ICT use. This cross-disciplinary review focuses on work design as a central explanatory vehicle for exploring how individual ICT usage influences employees’ effectiveness and well-being. We evaluated 83 empirical studies. Results show that ICT use affects employees through shaping three key work design aspects: job demands, job autonomy, and relational aspects. To reconcile previous mixed findings on the effects of ICT use on individual workers, we identify two categories of factors that moderate the effects of ICT use on work design: user-technology fit factors and social-technology fit factors. We consolidate the review findings into a comprehensive framework that delineates both the work design processes linking ICT use and employee outcomes and the moderating factors. The review fosters an intellectual conversation across different disciplines, including organizational behavior, management information systems, and computer-mediated communication. The findings and the proposed framework help to guide future research and to design high-quality work in the digital era.

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Crossref · 10.5465/annals.2018.0127

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  • Technology that creates poor work design will motivate job crafting and other proactive behaviours from workers seeking to better meet their psychological needs.

    “Just as time pressure can stimulate proactivity104, we should expect that technology that creates poor work design will motivate job crafting and other proactive behaviours from workers seeking to meet their psychological needs better105.”

    From Understanding and shaping the future of work with self-determination theory (2022) · cites this paper as [105]

    In “An Integrative Model” (page unavailable), the paper says employees can cope with ICT-related stressors through job crafting and self-regulation. It does not say that technology-induced poor work design will motivate job crafting or other proactive behaviours, or that workers do so to meet psychological needs. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Lack of manager trust leads to decreased feelings of autonomy, increased employee home-work conflict, and distress.

    “This lack of trust leads to decreased feelings of autonomy124, increased employee home–work conflict105 and distress125,126.”

    From Understanding and shaping the future of work with self-determination theory (2022) · cites this paper as [105]

    The “Managerial control-induced decreases in autonomy” section (page unavailable) reports that electronic monitoring can reduce employees’ autonomy, supporting the outcome cited to this paper. It does not identify lack of manager trust as the cause. The home–work conflict and distress clauses carry different citations and are not assessed here. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Technology that reduces job demands in work settings is sometimes found to reduce learning.

    “Technology that reduces job demands in work settings is sometimes found to reduce learning (Wang et al. 2020) and education technology that similarly lowers effort may thus also reduce learning.”

    From AI Meets the Classroom: When Do Large Language Models Harm Learning? (2024) · cites this paper as Wang et al. 2020

    The “Reduced Job Demands” section says labor-saving ICT can lead to superficial processing and reports poorer learning performance in a laptop note-taking experiment. Its workplace examples concern cognitive functioning, attention, and perceived competence, rather than directly finding reduced learning at work. The cited paper therefore supports the proposed mechanism, but not the claim’s specific work-setting learning outcome. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Recent studies have shown that the reasonableness of information collected through monitoring systems (e.g., intrusiveness, range and frequency of monitoring) shapes its impact on workers' reaction and autonomy.

    “In terms of relevance, reasonableness or legitimacy of the criterion, for instance, recent studies have shown that the reasonableness of the information collected through monitoring systems (e.g., intrusiveness, range and frequency of monitoring) shapes its impact on workers' reaction and autonomy (Charbonneau & Doberstein, 2020;Wang et al., 2020).”

    From Algorithms as work designers: How algorithmic management influences the design of jobs (2022) · cites this paper as Wang et al., 2020

    In “Managerial control-induced decreases in autonomy” (page unavailable), the review says monitoring frequency and other contextual factors affect employees’ responses, and reports links between monitoring and perceived job control. “Contextual factors” also lists monitoring frequency and range. Our copy does not specifically establish that the intrusiveness or reasonableness of information collected shapes those outcomes. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Narrow algorithmic monitoring systems lead to a greater emphasis on quantified work objectives at the expense of other and potentially meaningful aspects of one's job, reducing autonomy in the choice of work methods.

    “A similar consequence of narrow algorithmic monitoring systems is a greater emphasis on quantified work objectives at the expense of other and potentially meaningful aspects of one's job (Schafheitle et al., 2020), reducing the autonomy of workers in the choice of their work methods (Day, Paquet, Scott, & Hambley, 2012;Wang, Liu, & Parker, 2020)”

    From Algorithms as work designers: How algorithmic management influences the design of jobs (2022) · cites this paper as Wang et al., 2020

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 11

  1. Bingley: Emerald.
  2. Chen, A., & Karahanna, E. 2018. Life interrupted : The effects of technology-mediated work interruptions on work and nonwork outcomes. MIS Ouarterly, 42(4): 1023- 1042.
  3. Coovert, M. D., & Thompson, L. F. 2014. Toward a synergistic relationship between psychology and technology. In M. D. Coovert & L. F. Thompson (Eds.), The Psychology of Workplace Technology: 1-17. New York, NY: Routledge.
  4. Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. 2014. The pen is mightier than the keyboard. Psychological Science, 25(6): 1159-1168.
  5. Potosky, D., & Lomax, M. W. 2014. Leadership and technology: A love-hate relationship. In M. D. Coovert & L. F. Thompson (Eds.), The Psychology of Workplace Technology: 118-146. New York, NY: Routledge.
  6. Rice, R. E., & Leonardi, P. M. 2013. Information and communication technology use in organizations. In L. L. Putnam & D. K. Mumby (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Communication: (3rd ed.): 425-448. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  7. Robertson, K., O'Reilly, J., & Hannah, D. 2019. Finding meaning in relationships: The impact of network ties and structure on the meaningfulness of work. Academy of Management Review, amr.2015.0242.
  8. Shorkey, C. T., & Crocker, S. B. 1981. Frustration theory: A source of unifying concepts for generalist practice. Social Work, 26(5): 374-379.
  9. Venkatesh, V. 2000. Determinants of perceived ease of use : Integrating control , intrinsic motivation , and emotion into the technology acceptance model. Information Systems, 1997(4): 342-365.
  10. Yu, L., Cao, X., Liu, Z., & Wang, J. 2018. Excessive social media use at work. Information Technology & People, 31(6): 1091-1112.
  11. Zhang, P. 2008. Motivational affordances: Reasons for ICT design and use. Communications of the ACM, 51(11): 145-147.

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Authors
Wang, B., Liu, Y., & Parker, S. K.
Affiliations
  • Shanghai University (CN)
  • Curtin University (AU)
Corresponding author
Wang, Bin
ORCID
Venue
Academy of Management Annals
Publisher
Academy of Management
Published
2020-07
Volume
14
Issue
2
Pages
695-725
ISSN
  • 1941-6067 (ISSN-L)
  • 1941-6520
DOI
10.5465/annals.2018.0127
OpenAlex
W3015596784
Cited by
377
References
197
Citations by year
2026: 67 · 2025: 83 · 2024: 71 · 2023: 59 · 2022: 50 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 5 · 2013: 1
FWCI
42.34
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Academy of Management Annals (publishedVersion)
  • eSpace (Curtin University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Curtin University of Technology
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Technostress in Professional Settings
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Information Systems Theories and Implementation
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
Keywords
information and communication technologies, job design, employee well-being, job demands, employee autonomy, moderators, digital organization, employee work effectiveness, computer-mediated communication, management information systems

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