Countering technostress in virtual work environments: The role of work-based learning and digital leadership in enhancing employee well-being.

ABSTRACT

Virtual work has been highlighted as an important business trend nowadays. Technostress caused by information and communication technology threatens employee well-being in a virtual context. We integrate insights from the Job Demands-Resources theory to explore the impact of technostress on employee well-being and examine work-based learning and digital leadership capability as buffers of this negative impact via the attenuating effect of work exhaustion. We collected multi-wave survey data from 300 virtual employees to test the theoretical model. Results revealed a significant negative impact of technostress on employee well-being. However, work-based learning and digital leadership capability buffered employees' well-being from this negative effect by reducing their work exhaustion. Our findings extend our understanding of work design and shed light on how to cope with virtual work demands.