"Technostress" and the role of the welfare state
What role does the welfare state play in how "technostress" affects health and social inequality? Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" at the University of Konstanz conclude: Higher income as well as social welfare measures help reduce the stress people perceive from everyday interactions with technology.
Technological change is currently driving fundamental changes to the world of work – with significant consequences for social inequality. Against this backdrop, the interdisciplinary research project "Digitalization, Automation and the Future of Work in Post-Industrial Welfare States" recently published research results on how technological change impacts health, e.g., causes technostress. The research team applies this concept to how individuals deal with constantly changing information and communication technologies as well as the cognitive and social demands they face as a result.
The interdisciplinary team of researchers from the fields of organizational and management research as well as political science focuses on the extent to which socio-economic backgrounds and social systems in welfare states affect the relationship between technological change and health. Their method links data on personal income, technostress, and unemployment benefit measures for almost 25,000 participants from 24 OECD countries. This makes studying how socio-political contexts influence an individual's psychological perceptions possible.
Ann Sophie Lauterbach, a doctoral researcher in the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" at the University of Konstanz, explains: "By looking at unemployment benefits, for example, we conclude that these payments go in line with lower stress levels caused by technology. The more generous the social programs in a welfare state, the less technostress its residents are likely to experience". The study explains this effect as reduced fear of being overburdened at work or potentially losing a job to a more qualified person or automation.
This underscores the importance of state support for those navigating today's world of work: Welfare states that provide generous support measures for the labor market can significantly reduce subjective perceptions of technostress. Lauterbach cautions: "The problem is that such measures can amplify inequalities between countries with respect to social and individual health". People from northern and western European welfare states with high income levels might be better equipped psychologically to address the challenges of digitalization and technological change.
Key facts:
- Original publication: Lauterbach et al. (2023): "Can welfare states buffer technostress? Income and technostress in the context of various OECD countries.", PLoS ONE 18(12): e0295229.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0295229 - The data basis for the paper is original survey data collected in collaboration with the OECD.
- Authors:
- Ann Sophie Lauterbach is a doctoral researcher in the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" at the University of Konstanz. Her research topic is "New Work Environments and their Impact on Employee Well-being".
- Tobias Tober is a postdoctoral researcher in the project "Digitalization, Automation and the Future of Work in Post-Industrial Welfare States".
- Florian Kunze is a professor of organizational behaviour and a principal investigator in the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality".
- Marius R. Busemeyer is a professor of political science and speaker for the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality".
- The cluster's project "Digitalization, Automation and the Future of Work in Post-Industrial Welfare States" studies interactions between politics, society and economics in response to the many challenges posed by digitalization and automation.
