Employees’ attitudes and work-related stress in the digital workplace: an empirical investigation

Introduction: In the digital era, the integration of advanced, hyper-connected
technologies deeply reshaped work dynamics and organizational practices,
especially through the transformation of the spatial and temporal dimensions
of work. This study examines the complex relationship between digitalization
and work-related stress, with a particular emphasis on the impact of both
digital activities (i.e., number of actions and virtual meetings) and employees’
attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction, person-organization fit, engagement, and worklife
interface) on stress levels.
Methods: Drawing on data from Microsoft 365 activity records and an online
survey of employees in an Italian AI firm, this study applies Factor Analysis and
Generalized Additive Models to analyze the above-mentioned interactions in a
highly digitalized context.
Results: Findings indicate that the time–space intensification and extension of the
working experience has a significant impact in terms of increasing work-related
stress when exceeding certain number of off-hours digital actions and virtual
meetings. Conversely, job satisfaction, perceptions of work-life enrichment and
person-organization fit represent subjective employees’ attitudes that significantly
influence and reduce work-related stress in a digitalized working environment.
Discussion: This study contributes to the existing academic literature by providing
a more nuanced understanding of the dual impact of work digitalization on
employees’ well-being. Furthermore, our findings offer practical insights into
the management of employees and their level of stress in digital work settings.