Telepressure and work life balance satisfaction: Impact of ICT mediated by workload and workaholism.
Appel à communication
Résumé
Abstract
The global pandemic has definitively anchored ICT in both the professional and private lives of
individuals. Research about psychological health at work literature suggests that workplace
telepressure interfere with intensity of use of the electronic mail, workload, recognition, LMX
(Dose et al., 2019). The electronic mails (ME) at work are the communications tool the most
used within the current companies. This study aimed to understand the relationships between
the perception of the intensity of e-mail and telepressure on the one hand, and satisfaction with
work-life balance on the other. Barber and Santuzzi (2015) found that telepressure was related
to the intensity of responses via electronic mail. Employees under telepressure are likely to
respond more frequently and more quickly to e-mails, in order to reduce response times and
maintain the speed of the responses issued. Yet, telepressure and workaholism differ (Barber &
Santuzzi, 2015), with workaholism referring to two components: excessive work and compulsive
work (Machado et al., 2015; Schaufeli et al., 2009). Consequently, and at the same time, the
mediating effect of workaholism and workload need to be tested.
Participants, contacted at work, received the digital version of a questionnaire that they could
fill out on-line. The questionnaire consisted of 40 subject items and factual questions (age, sex,
seniority, etc.). The participants filled out the questionnaire at work, using seven-point Likerttype scales ranging from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree). We varied the instructions in
order to neutralize response biases (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2000).
Results
The results collected from 169 executives and equivalent showed us that the intensity of e-mail
use was negatively related to satisfaction with work-life balance and positively related to
telepressure. Moreover, workaholism played a significant mediating role in these two
relationships. Workload played a mediating role between the intensity of ME use and
satisfaction with work-life balance. Action levers are proposed for the primary, secondary and
tertiary prevention of RPS, such as workaholism or burnout.
Keywords: ICT, telepressure, workaholism, worklife balance.
References
Barber, L. K., & Santuzzi, A. M. (2015). Please respond ASAP: Workplace telepressure and
employee recovery. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 20, 172–189.
Dose, E., Desrumaux, P., & Rekik, M. (2019). Télépression au travail, relation entre l’utilisation
de la messagerie électronique au travail et les échanges leader –membres : rôle de la
reconnaissance et de la charge de travail. Le Travail Humain, 82, 151-181.