Journal of Business Research 69 (2016) 3315–3323

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Business Research

The effect of mobile technology usage on work engagement and

emotional exhaustion in Japan
Yuka Fujimoto a,b,⁎, Ahmed Shahriar Ferdous c, Tomoki Sekiguchi d, Ly-Fie Sugianto e
a
School of Management, Deakin University, Australia
b
Sunway University Business School, Sunway University, Malaysia
c
Department of Marketing, Deakin University, Australia
d
Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University, Japan
e
Department of Accounting and Finance, Monash University, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Researchers have repeatedly found that the use of mobile technology (MT) in the West is a double-edged sword
Received 15 May 2014 that produces both positive and negative psychological experiences for employees. MT blurs the boundaries
Received in revised form 4 February 2016 between work and non-work contexts, limiting employees' personal space and time as a result, and possibly having
Accepted 5 February 2016
a negative impact on their work engagement. Our findings in Japan, however, were different. Japanese workers' total
Available online 2 March 2016
MT usage (i.e., during office and non-office hours) had a positive impact on their work autonomy, which, in turn, led
Keywords:
to greater work engagement. Emotional exhaustion was not related to MT usage. The findings from this study imply
Mobile technology that MT can result in positive psychological experiences for employees and present some managerial implications
Work engagement for boundary conditions.
Emotional exhaustion © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Japan

1. Introduction
The emergence of mobile technology (MT), together with the intro-
duction of smartphones and small portable devices, offers much flexibility
and convenience for mobile users. Drawing on previous studies, MT is
depicted as being portable information technology artifacts offering
both voice and data features (Jarvenpaa & Lang, 2006; Sarker & Wells,
2003), all of which enable the users to engage in work and non-work
activities, 24/7. MT devices include smartphones, tablets, laptop
computers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). These devices have
multiple functionalities for achieving work and non-work activities and
allow employees to constantly stay in touch with colleagues, families,
and friends, crossing the boundaries of life's activities (Boswell &
Olson-Buchanan, 2007; Coovert & Thompson, 2003; Duxbury, Higgins,
Smart, & Stevenson, 2013; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007; Porter &
Kakabadse, 2005).
While MT offers much flexibility and convenience for employees,
past studies imply that proliferation of MT and its extensive use in a
work context may blur the boundaries between work and non-work
activities. This either invigorates employees to engage in multiple life
demands in a flexible manner or exhausts them with having to fulfill
multiple demands regardless of the time of day (c.f., Kossek, Lautsch,
& Eaton, 2006; Golden & Geisler, 2007; Orlikowski, 2007).
⁎ Corresponding author at: Sunway University Business School, Jalan Universiti, Bandar
Sunway, 46150 Petaling Jaya Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel.: +60 3 7491 8622.
Simultaneously, the increasing usage of MT has been said to foster the
rise of networked individualism. This refers to MT facilitation of an indi-
vidual worker to be a central portal of connectivity, thereby enhancing
work autonomy to regulate their work patterns (Miyata, Boase,
Wellman, & Ikeda, 2005; Wellman, 2002).
The mediating role of work autonomy between MT usage and
employee outcomes such as engagement or burnout warrants further
research as it has been suggested that these outcomes impact on both
employees' productivity and quality of life (Bakker, Demerouti, &
Sanz-Vergel, 2014). However, to date, only limited research examines
such a mediating relationship. Specifically, studies are yet to simulta-
neously examine the perceptions of both work engagement and emotion-
al exhaustion that may result from the usage of MT. The closest studies
within the context of virtual and telework were conducted in relation to
wellbeing and stress, reporting the simultaneous occurrence of these
outcomes (Richter, Meyer, & Sommer, 2006; Vartiainen & Hyrkkänen,
2010). Despite the potential of work autonomy embedded in a networked
individualism-based society, a boundless lifestyle beyond the ‘nine-to-
five’ work day and four office walls' implies the possible simultaneous oc-
currence of work engagement and emotional exhaustion (Richter et al.,
2006). While negative emotional states such as stress and emotional ex-
haustion might not occur – as MT offers a high degree of autonomy
(Richter et al., 2006) – the MT usage of workers poses a question as to
whether or not MT usage promotes greater positive effect on work auton-
omy and work engagement rather than the negative effect of emotional
exhaustion.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.02.013
0148-2963/© 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
3316 Y. Fujimoto et al. / Journal of Business Research 69 (2016) 3315–3323
Up until now, researchers studied the use of MT – particularly in the
West – and found that the workers' MT usage is a double-edged sword.
That is, while it enhances workers' job satisfaction, organizational
commitment, and perceived control, it also produces workers' work-
life conflicts, techno-stress, anxiety, frustration, work overload, and
work intensification (Brough & Kalliath, 2009; Day, Scott, & Kelloway,
2010; Diaz, Chiaburu, Zimmerman, & Boswell, 2012; Golden & Geisler,
2007; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007; Matusik & Mickel, 2011; Kelliher &
Anderson, 2010; O'Driscoll, Brough, Timms, & Sawang, 2010; Karasek
& Theorell, 1990; Teo, Lim, & Wai, 1998). From the boundary theory
perspective, which refers to individuals creating and maintaining
“boundaries as a means of simplifying and ordering the environment”
(Ashforth, Kreiner, & Fugate, 2000, p. 474), MT usage is assumed to
create tensions for employees as it creates the situation where they
must balance the separate boundary spheres of their work and non-
work roles (Duxbury & Smart, 2011; Thompson, Beauvais, & Allen,
2006). Similarly, from the job demands-resources (JD-R) perspective,
MT is assumed to facilitate both job demands and resources as it enables
constant access to work even outside of official working hours, which
can be mentally exhausting for employees (c.f., Bakker & Demerouti,
2007; Day et al., 2010). These concepts reflect the typical phenomenon
reported in Western society. While MT enhances workers' perceived
autonomy, flexibility, and connectedness in terms of how, when, and
where their work can be carried out, it also tends to put pressures on
the workers to be always accessible and responsive to work demands,
thus creating stress and tension in both work and non-work domains
(Day et al., 2010; Diaz et al., 2012; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007;
Golden & Geisler, 2007; Kelliher & Anderson, 2010; Kossek et al.,
2006; Matusik & Mickel, 2011; O'Driscoll et al., 2010; Schlosser, 2002).
Therefore, according to the boundary theory and JD-R model, past
literature supports the notion that an increase of job demands exceeds
the increase of job resources from MT usage, which may result in the
decrease of work engagement and the increase of emotional exhaustion.
The empirical studies in the West have supported this line of argument.
In this study, we draw on social construction and networked
individualism perspectives into the aforementioned theoretical
framework to question a different phenomenon within the Japanese
context. The social construction perspective toward MT usage views
that technologies are both constructive of and constructed by social,
cultural and historical contexts, which are embedded in personal and
communal networks (e.g., Miller & Slater, 2000; Wellman, 2002). Social
constructivists commonly agree that the effects of MT emerge out of a
social context, where workers' responses to MT's constraints and
affordance to each other influence their psychological conditions (cf.,
Boudreau & Robey, 2005; Orlikowski, 2007; Orlikowski & Yates, 1994;
Van Dyne, Kossek, & Lobel, 2007; Volkoff, Strong, & Elmes, 2007).
The social context of the Japanese workforce is characterized as
having significantly high MT usage and excessively long working hours
(including work-related socializing hours) that are reinforced by their
work culture of conformity (Davies & Ikeno, 2002; Imamura, 2009;
Iwasaki, Takahashi, & Nakata, 2006; Japan Broadcasting Corporation,
2013; Mouer, 2009). Unlike Western society, where the emphasis is
placed on self-autonomy and self-regulated behavior to gain independent
success, Japanese society is characterized by socially regulated behaviors
to maintain social connectedness (Dennis, Cole, Zahn–Waxler, & Mizuta,
2002; Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Markus, Kitayama, & Heiman, 1996).
Notably, its downside is the tendency among the people to subordinate
their own unique perspectives or even sacrifice their own health in
order to protect group harmony and to conform to the desires and
needs of the others (Karlova, 2012). The continuous social connections
of the Japanese people, regardless of the type of activity, may mean that
they may not separate their work and non-work spheres as much as
Westerners do. Another unique psychological feature of the Japanese
workforce is their avoidance of uncertainty and their crisis mentality,
both of which may put great value on constant connection with
colleagues, families, and friends (Barr & Glynn, 2004; Herstatt, Verworn,
& Nagahira, 2004; Hofstede, 2001). MT therefore may support the notion
of ‘Nagara’ (i.e., while-doing-something-else) culture of simultaneously
cohabiting work and non-work domains of Japanese workers and MT
may function more as “a medium of lightweight ‘refreshment’ analogous
to connecting with others at any time of the day (Fujimoto, 2003; Ito,
Okabe, & Matsuda, 2006, p. 9) In this context, we pose this central
question: Will Japanese workers in Japan report atypical psychological
experiences of MT usage that have not been observed in the Western
workforce? The following sections explain the development of the
conceptual model and associated hypotheses that address the central
research question.
In order to deduct our hypotheses within the context of Japan, we
firstly conducted a qualitative study to understand how the MT usage
is socially constructed positively or negatively and, accordingly, how
the socio-psychological condition of MT usage in Japan may be different
from that of the West. Based on the qualitative findings and aforemen-
tioned theoretical framework, we developed our conceptual model and
hypotheses.
2. Conceptual model development and hypotheses
Based on the positive psychology of optimal human functioning
(Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), we selected work engagement
and emotional exhaustion as opposite constructs (Demerouti, Bakker,
Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004; Schaufeli,
Bakker, & Salanova, 2006). By testing the effect of MT usage on these
opposite constructs, we sought to strengthen our findings (Ajzen,
2013). Using the perspective of social constructivists, networked indi-
vidualism and the finding of our qualitative study, we assess the effect
of the Japanese workers' total MT usage (i.e., combining both work
and after-work hours) on work engagement and emotional exhaustion
(c.f., Leonardi & Barley, 2010). In the West, the conventional prediction
may be that the employees' MT usage during and after work hours
may deplete their mental resources, which, in turn, may reduce work
engagement and increase emotional exhaustion (Duxbury & Smart,
2011). Among the Japanese employees, however, we predicted the
effects to be the opposite.
We conducted exploratory interviews with ten Japanese workers in
technologically advanced areas in Japan, namely, Tokyo, Osaka, and
Kanagawa. Those participants were approached through the author's
direct (N = 2) and indirect contacts (N = 7) in those regions. An
overview of the samples' characteristics is provided in Table 1. We
asked the interviewees ‘why they use MT and how they think and feel
about MT affecting their quality of life’. We also asked their perceptions
on Japanese workers' reaction to MT usage in general. Interviews lasted
for an average of 45 to 60 min and were tape-recorded and transcribed.
A National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters
(NAATI) translator translated the Japanese data to English. The data
were then analyzed based on grounded theory, i.e., letting the data
speak to us rather than making any assumption about the data (Glaser
& Strauss, 1967; Locke, 2001).
Although we conducted our interviews without having any assump-
tions about the positive or negative influences of MT usage on the inter-
viewees' lives, all of them reported its positive influence. This was
significantly different from the Western perspective of paradoxical or
neutral (counterbalancing positive and negative) reports of the MT
effects (e.g., Day et al., 2010; Duxbury & Smart, 2011). While some inter-
viewees acknowledged that MT usage sometimes disrupted family or
private time, all reported that it enhanced the quality of both work
and non-work life. For example, one interviewee said, “My work satis-
faction with MT is 90% for my business; 10% just depends on my ability
to manage my clients and colleagues.” Another reported, “My quality of
life got better, as it is more convenient and maximizes my time.” The
other interviewee said, “Quality of life is improving. Mainly communica-
tion quality is getting better.” Another said, “Mobile technology definitely
has a positive influence on my family because I can get messages from my
 Y. Fujimoto et al. / Journal of Business Research 69 (2016) 3315–3323 3317

Table 1
Sample of qualitative explorative study.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Gender Female Male Male Female Female Male Male Female Female Male
Resident Osaka Tokyo Tokyo Tokyo Osaka Tokyo Osaka Kanagawa Tokyo Tokyo
Age 36–44 years 36–44 26–35 36–44 years 36–44 years 18–25 years 26–35 26–35 years 26–35 years 55 years and
years years years older
Highest Master's Master's Bachelor Bachelor Bachelor Master's Master's TAFE Diploma Bachelor
education degree degree degree degree degree degree degree degree
Occupation Mid office Consultant Frontliner, Back office, Commercial Management Frontliner, Frontliner Mid office, Director
including manager including including facility consulting including including including including
finance, legal marketing operations development marketing marketing and finance, legal senior
and HR selling and HR executives
Duration of MT 5 years or more 5 years or 5 years or 1 to less than 5 years or 5 years or 5 years or 5 years or more 2 years to less 5 years or
usage more more 2 years more more more than 5 years more
Frequency of MT 30 min to less 3 h or more 3 h or more 1 h to less 30 min to less 3 h or more 30 min to 3 h or more in a 1 h to less than 3 h or more
usage for work than 1 h per in a in a than 3 h in a than 1 h in a in a working less than 1 working day 3 h in a in a working
purposes day working working working day working day day h per day working day day
day day
Frequency of MT 1 h to less than 1 h to less 1 h to less 3 h or more Less than 30 1 h to less 1 h to less 1 h to less than 1 h to less than Less than 30
usage for 3 h in a day than 3 h than 3 h per day min per day than 3 h per than 3 h in 3 h in a day 3 h per day min per day
non-work per day per day day a day
purposes

wife during work hours.” All interviewees mentioned that social connec-
tivity with family, friends, and colleagues was the biggest merit of MT
usage. In particular, most interviewees (n = 8) mentioned that MT
facilitated more job autonomy by allowing them to have discretion
over work schedule and methods:
• “MT makes my work more effective and flexible. MT gives me more
alternatives in my working style, and I am satisfied with my working
effectiveness made possible by MT.”
• “I always check email outside the office and make work-related
requests anytime so I can speed up my work.”
• “The most important benefit of MT is that I can work anywhere. I can
work at my home or on the community train, too.”
Table 2 provides sample quotes that illustrate the socio-psychological
condition of MT usage in the Japanese workforce, indicating the
boundary-less work activities in Japan.
Drawing on our discussions related to socio-psychological context of
MT and findings of the exploratory interviews, we propose a conceptual
model as shown in Fig. 1. The discussions that follow present the
associated hypotheses in our conceptual model.
2.1. MT ➔ work engagement in Japan
Within the context of Japanese society, we examine the effect of MT
usage on work engagement. As what was previously discussed, we
address the research gap of exploring the effect of MT usage based
Table 2
Boundary-less work activities in Japan: sample quotations.
In Japan people usually work very late, so it is very hard to meet face to face.
Once or twice a month by face to face but every day I contact via MT.
Considering Japanese workforce overall, I expect that people are expected to be
contactable over weekends and to meet urgent task requirements if any. If there
is an urgent matter, I need to attend that matter over the weekend too.
I have two mobile phones, so my family members don't blame me when I am
checking my business mobile phone. That's ok. When someone calls me when I
am taking dinner if that's business phone then they say “go and answer that,” but
if it is my private phone then they say “answer that after dinner.”
My client and my boss can contact me any time, 24 h. Sometimes my clients call
me at midnight. My clients are mostly in Tokyo. They are working at that hour,
which is normal. You can send email conveniently, so my clients expect me to
reply to his email immediately. Even if I am too busy, he doesn't care, and he
says, “why don't you reply back?! I sent it 3 min ago!”
upon the social construction perspective of MT (Bijker, Hughes, &
Pinch, 1993). Within Japanese society with socio-psychological
conditions that are confounded with networked individualism
along with other aspects of the traditional Japanese culture of conformity,
socially-regulated behaviors and uncertainty avoidance, we examine the
effect of MT on work engagement.
Work engagement is defined as a “positive, fulfilling work-related
state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption”
(Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá, & Bakker, 2002, p. 74). This state
of mind is recognized as a critical driver of business success in the 21st
century (Bakker, 2014; Bakker & Leiter, 2010; Lockwood, 2007). In
essence, employees are engaged when they recognize their work expe-
rience as highly energizing and stimulating and are willing to invest
their effort even in the face of difficulties (vigor); when they see it as
being a meaningful, inspirational, and challenging pursuit (dedication);
and when they are fully immersed so that time flies (absorption)
(Macey & Schneider, 2008; May, Gilson, & Harter, 2004; Schaufeli
et al., 2006). Antecedents of work engagement are mainly acknowl-
edged as positive or negative work conditions featured by job resources
(positive) and/or demands (negative) (Crawford, LePine, & Rich, 2010;
Demerouti et al., 2001). The job demands may include a job characteris-
tic of excessively long working hours and a working environment of
conformity, as evident in the Japanese workforce. These work condi-
tions may have an adverse effect on workers' engagement. On the
other hand, job resources may include MT devices as tools available
for workers to exercise networked individualism while connecting
with colleagues, managers, and subordinates 24/7 (Lowry & Moskos,
2005). Literature on information communication technology (ICT)
recognizes that ICT can act as both job resources and job demands,
implying it has ambivalent effects on workers' work engagement (Day
et al., 2010; Diaz et al., 2012). For instance, Diaz et al.'s (2012) study of
workers in the United States with a 90% Caucasian sample (n = 193)
found that ICT usage increased both work satisfaction and work-to-life
conflict.
In particular, we examine the effect of total MT usage hours on
workers' work engagement. Within the Japanese workforce, where
conformity, social connectedness, long working hours, and avoidance
of uncertainty are heavily embedded as socio-psychological conditions
(Hamamura, 2012; Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Ralston, Holt, Terpstra,
& Kai-Cheng, 1997), we predicted that MT is likely to be perceived as
an enabler for them to connect with their colleagues, supervisors,
families, and friends at any time, therefore positively fulfilling their
work-related state of mind without having to worry about social discon-
nection (c.f., Schlosser, 2002).
3318 Y. Fujimoto et al. / Journal of Business Research 69 (2016) 3315–3323

Work Engagement
H1a

H2a

Mobile Technology
Job Autonomy
Usage
(MT)

H2b

H1b

ControlVariables Emotional Exhaustion

Age, Gender, Job Tenure, Type of Occupation,

Personality

Fig. 1. The conceptual model.

Therefore, we propose: With the advent of US influence in Japan after World War II (Maier,
1977), Japanese workers gradually shifted their work value from collec-
H1a. Japanese workers' MT usage will positively affect their work tivism to individualism, enhancing their needs for more job autonomy
engagement. (Reid, 1999; Schwind & Peterson, 1985; Watanabe, 1994; Yamaguchi,
2001). Some scholars state that Japanese workers perceive incompatibil-
ity between the traditional work norms of collectivism and their need for
2.2. MT ➔ emotional exhaustion in Japan
job autonomy (Pucik, 1991; Yamaguchi, 2001). A study of 487 Japanese
workers in Japan found that lack of job control and poor social relation-
Emotional exhaustion refers to one or more extreme varieties of work
ships at the workplace had a significant association with workers' depres-
burnout that manifests itself in workers as a depletion of mental resources
sive symptoms (Kawakami, Haratani, & Araki, 1992). Some studies
caused by excessive psychological and emotional demands (Bakker &
reported the positive effect of telecommuting on employees' perceived
Leiter, 2010; Gaines & Jermier, 1983; Jackson, Turner, & Brief, 1987;
autonomy and control as it positively affected work conditions, such as
Maslach, 1982; Maslach & Jackson, 1986; Sonnentag, Kuttler, & Fritz,
the quality of work relationships, latitude in the decision-making process,
2010). Emotional exhaustion is often characterized as the direct opposite
productivity, turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and self-presentation
of work engagement (e.g., González-Romá, Schaufeli, Bakker, & Lloret,
(Bloom, Liang, Roberts, & Ying, 2013; Daniels & Harris, 2005; Gajendran
2006). ICT in the West has been identified as a source of strain and burn-
& Harrison, 2007; Kelliher & Anderson, 2010; Kossek et al., 2006;
out that substantially blurs the boundary between work and non-work
Sonnentag & Zijlstra, 2006).
hours (Duxbury & Smart, 2011; Fenner & Renn, 2010; Lockwood, 2007;
Being impacted by the networked individualism, we predicted that
Middleton, 2007; Orlikowski, 2007) with one exception (Gajendran &
MT would enable and enrich Japanese workers to have greater perception
Harrison, 2007). The research conducted in Canada on workers' percep-
of job autonomy outside their working hours while being connected with
tions of MT found that 70% of respondents reported that MT increased
their families and significant others. This condition would then produce a
their workloads, and 50% reported that the amount of stress in their
higher level of work engagement and a lower level of emotional exhaus-
lives increased (Duxbury & Higgins, 2001). Taking this data into account,
tion (c.f., Demerouti, Mostert, & Bakker, 2010; Goldberg & Grandey, 2007;
in the Japanese workforce where workers' MT usage is very high, MT
Grandey, Fisk, & Steiner, 2005; Ito & Brotheridge, 2003). In other words,
would presumably produce more emotional exhaustion due to excessive
we posit that MT usage in Japan increases job resources through the
workloads and/or long working hours. However, considering the socio-
activation of networked individualism, increasing job autonomy, and in
psychological conditions in Japan being fueled by networked individual-
turn exceeds the increase of job demands based on MT usage. The
ism, Japanese workers may manifest a different cultural-emotional
reducing boundary between work and non-work might also be related
response to MT usage as compared to the Western workers (Tourigny,
to the increase of job resources rather than job demands in Japan. Thus,
Baba, & Lituchy, 2005). We predicted that the usage of MT may reduce
we hypothesize that in Japan, MT usage increases work engagement
Japanese workers' mental depletion as it enables them to constantly
and decreases emotional exhaustion through job autonomy as a job
connect with colleagues, families, and friends (c.f., Schlosser, 2002).
resource to mediate these relationships. Based on the above arguments
Regarding emotional exhaustion as the direct opposite pole of work
we propose:
engagement, MT may reduce the emotional exhaustion of workers in
Japan. Therefore we propose: H2a. Job autonomy will mediate the relationship between Japanese
workers' MT usage and work engagement.
H1b. Japanese workers' MT usage will negatively affect their emotional
exhaustion. H2b. Job autonomy will mediate the relationship between Japanese
workers' MT usage and emotional exhaustion.

2.3. MT ➔ job autonomy ➔ work engagement and emotional exhaustion

MT, facilitating networked individualism, enables employees to gain
greater perceived job autonomy to complete their work across geographic
boundaries and time (Gajendran & Harrison, 2007; Grant & Parker, 2009).
Job autonomy has been found to be one of the best predictors of work
engagement (Jackson, Wall, Martin, & Davids, 1993; Llorens, Bakker,
Schaufeli, & Salanova, 2006; Mauno, Kinnunen, & Ruokolainen, 2007).
3. Methodology
3.1. Sample and procedure
We used a specialized online data-collection company to administer
surveys among 1028 full-time Japanese workers. The following criteria
were used to select participants for the study: a) full-time employees
 Y. Fujimoto et al. / Journal of Business Research 69 (2016) 3315–3323
for companies of more than 100 employees in Tokyo, Osaka,
Yokohama, or Nagoya areas; b) MT is used to interact with their
colleagues/supervisors/peers to perform their jobs; and c) genders were
equally represented. Two waves of surveys were administered 7 weeks
apart in order to examine the relationship between respondents' MT
usage and their psychological work outcomes. The first survey was
administered in January 2012 to identify MT usage items. The second
survey was administered seven weeks later in March 2012 to measure
constructs related to job autonomy, work engagement, and emotional
exhaustion. The respondent who answered the questions in T1 (MT
usage) also answered the questions in T2 (outcome variable). There
were a total of 295 responses to the online surveys, of which seven
were unusable because of incomplete responses. The final usable sample
was therefore 288 (a 28% response rate). Table 3 provides the sample
characteristics.
3.2. Measures
As the online data-collection company administered the survey in
Japanese, a NAATI accredited Japanese translator translated all measure-
ment items. After the translation, a professor in Japan re-examined all
items in order to ensure the accuracy of the data.
3.2.1. MT usage
We measured MT usage in terms of frequency of its use by the
employees – for all-purposes – during work hours and after work
hours between Monday and Friday. We aggregated all MT usages
(i.e., hours) during and after work hours. This was carried out as people
tend to use MT (e.g., iPhone) for work and non-work purposes simulta-
neously across a boundary of work and after-work hours. In the survey
we stated the purpose of our study as “exploration of MT usage in rela-
tion to people's work or home lives” and we defined MT as “hardware,
software, and networking services that include portable IT devices
such as smartphone, tablets, notebook computer, and PDA.” We there-
fore asked two questions to obtain the MT usages during work and
non-work hours i): “From Monday to Friday last week, please write
down the average number of hours you spent using MT during official
work hours” and, ii) “Between Monday to Friday last week, please
write down the average number of hours you spent using MT after offi-
cial working hours.” We provided a box next to each day (e.g., Monday)
for participants to state their usage hours. We aggregated the MT usage
during and after working hours in order to calculate the total mobile
usage by our respondents. Thus, total mobile usage was treated as a
single item manifest variable for the remaining analysis in this study.
3.2.2. Job autonomy
We used the three autonomy subscales of the Work Design
Questionnaire (WDQ; Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006) in order to assess
the experienced job autonomy of respondents, which included percep-
tions of work scheduling autonomy (three items), decision-making
autonomy (three items), and work methods autonomy (three items).
We measured these items on a 5-point Likert-type scale, ranging from
1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Examples of items from each
subscale, respectively, include “The job allows me to decide on the
order in which things are done on the job,” “The job allows me to
make a lot of decisions on my own,” and “The job allows me to make
decisions about what methods I use to complete my work.” Internal
consistency (α) for all sub-dimensions of job autonomy were acceptable
Table 3
Sample of quantitative study.
Gender Male N = 208 (72%) Female N = 80 (27.8%)
Age 18–25 (4.2%) 26–34 (20.8%)
Work types Senior managers (25%) Professional service providers (21.2%)
Job tenure b5 years (57.6%) 5–10 years (22.6%)
3319
(i.e., work scheduling (α) = .85, decision-making (α) = .85 and, work
methods (α) = .90). We also ran a multifactor confirmatory factor
analysis (CFA) using AMOS 22 software treating the three subscales of
job autonomy as first-order reflective latent constructs. We used the
chi-square/degree of freedom fit statistics (χ2/d.f.), comparative fit
index (CFI), Tucker–Lewis index (TLI), incremental fit index (IFI), and
root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) to assess the model
fit (Byrne, 2013). Given that the CFA for higher order job autonomy
construct showed acceptable model fit (χ2/d.f. = 2.6, CFI = .98, TLI =
.97, IFI = .98, RMSEA = .07), we combined the items to form an overall
(composited) measure of job autonomy.
3.2.3. Work engagement
We used the nine-item version of the Utrecht Work Engagement
Scale (Schaufeli et al., 2006). Example items included “At my work, I
feel bursting with energy; I am enthusiastic about my job.” Respondents
answered items on a 6-point Likert-type scale ranging from 0 (never) to
6 (always). CFA for work engagement congeneric measurement model
was also undertaken and the results indicated acceptable model fit
(χ2/d.f. = 2.3, CFI = .98, TLI = .98, IFI = .98, RMSEA = .06).
3.2.4. Emotional exhaustion
We measured emotional exhaustion using seven items from the
Oldenbourg Burnout Inventory (OLBI; Demerouti et al., 2010). A sample
item was “There are days when I feel tired before I arrive at work.” We
measured the items on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = totally disagree; 4 =
totally agree). CFA of the one-factor congeneric measurement model of
emotional exhaustion indicated that three of the items had a low
squared multiple correlation (SMC) value (i.e., below .30), and we
dropped those from further analysis. As a result, we measured emotional
exhaustion using the remaining four items in this study. The CFA was
undertaken for the work engagement measurement model which
identified good model fit (χ2/d.f. = .94, CFI = 1.0, TLI = .99, IFI = .99,
RMSEA = .01).
3.2.5. Control variables
We controlled several variables that could potentially influence em-
ployees' assessment of job autonomy and psychological work outcomes
of emotional exhaustion and work engagement. We controlled respon-
dents' gender by coding male = 1 and female = 2. Given age, occupa-
tion type, and job tenure were categorical variables, these variables
were dummy coded using one of the categories within each variable
as the reference group (Peeters, Wattez, Demerouti, & de Regt, 2009).
For example, we measured occupation type through three categories:
senior managers, professional services, and frontline employees. In
this case, we used senior managers as the reference group. As a measure
of respondents' personality, we used aggregated scores using a scale
measuring respondents as extravert or introvert (Larsen & Ketelaar,
1991).
4. Results
Table 4 presents the descriptive statistics and pairwise correlations
between the latent and the manifest variables for our study. The corre-
lations between the latent variables (emotional exhaustion and work
engagement) were found not to be large (the highest being r = .38),
thus providing evidence of discriminant validity (Bollen, 2005;
Salisbury, Pearson, Pearson, & Miller, 2001). To demonstrate further
35–44 (24.7%) 45–54 (32.6%) N54 (17.7%)
Frontline employees (53.8%)
10–15 years (11.5%) N15 years (8.3%)
3320 Y. Fujimoto et al. / Journal of Business Research 69 (2016) 3315–3323

Table 4
Descriptive statistics and correlations table.

Variables Mean Std. D. α AVE 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

1. Mobile usage 2.47 2.43 __a __a _

2. Autonomy 3.50 .77 __b __b .24⁎ _
3. Engagement 4.22 1.52 .83 .73 .01 .38⁎ −
4. Exhaustion 3.00 .85 .96 .56 .07 −.08 −.21⁎ −
5. Tenure 5.32 1.55 __c __c .02 .05 .08 .06 _
6. Age 3.39 1.12 __c __c −.12⁎ .08 .11⁎ −.10 .27⁎ _
7. Gender 1.23 .44 __c __c .09 −.12⁎ −.11 .04 .00 −.15⁎ _
8.Occupation 2.28 .84 __c __c −.01 −.38 −.12⁎ .00 −.03 −.25⁎ .18⁎ _
9. Personality 28.81 5.72 __c __c .06 .15⁎ .20⁎ −.12⁎ .04 −.00 .04 −.15⁎ _

Note: __a = manifest variable; __b = manifest (composited) variable; __c = manifest (control) variable; α = Cronbach's alpha; AVE = average variance extracted.
⁎ p b .05.

evidence of discriminant validity, we compared the two latent
constructs by constraining and un-constraining the correlations
between the constructs (Bagozzi & Yi, 2012). The results indicated
that constraining the correlations between the pairs of latent constructs
significantly worsened the models (Δχ2 = 394.36, Δd.f. = 1, p = .00),
which further supports discriminant validity between the pairs of latent
constructs (Bagozzi & Yi, 2012). Prior to undertaking structural model
testing we also conducted a multifactor CFA model which showed
good model fit (χ2/d.f. = 1.28, CFI = .99, TLI = .98, IFI = .99,
RMSEA = .03). We found that the multifactor CFA identified all items
within the latent constructs which had standardized loadings of over
.50, thereby demonstrating convergent validity (Kline, 2005). Addition-
ally, average variance extracted (AVE) for the latent constructs were
greater than .5 and were higher than the largest value for shared
variance between constructs (see Table 4) (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).
We conducted structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis to test
the relationships between the variables in our study. The statistical
power of the structural model approached 1 with 288 usable samples
and 206 degrees of freedom (d.f. = 206), thereby indicating adequate
power for assessing the overall fit of the structural model (MacCallum,
Browne, & Sugawara, 1996). The model fit indices for the overall struc-
tural model showed acceptable fit values (χ2/d.f. = 1.3, CFI = .98, TLI =
.97, IFI = .98, and RMSEA = .03).
In order to test our direct and indirect (mediation) hypotheses, we
employed a bootstrap bias-corrected method in Amos 22 to calculate
the parameter estimates using 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals
(CIs) and significant p values (i.e., n = 200 with 95% CI; Byrne, 2013;
Strizhakova, Coulter, & Price, 2011). The path results from the SEM indi-
cated that employees' MT usage had no significant direct relationship to
their level of emotional exhaustion (β = .10, CIlow = −.06 & CIhigh =
.24, p N .01) or work engagement (β = −.08, CIlow = −.21 & CIhigh =
.15, p N .01), suggesting that hypotheses H1a and H1b are not supported.
Additionally, our findings indicated a significant positive direct relation-
ship between MT usage and job autonomy (β = .24, CIlow = .12 &
CIhigh = .33, p b .01) and between job autonomy and work engagement
(β = .39, CIlow = .28 & CIhigh = .57, p b .01). However, no significant
relationship was found between job autonomy and emotional exhaustion
(β = −.13, CIlow = −.33 & CIhigh = .44, p N .01). Mediation analysis
conducted using the bootstrapping method (n = 200 with 95% CI)
indicated that MT usage had no significant indirect effect on emotional
exhaustion through job autonomy (β (indirect) = −.03, CIlow = −.11
& CIhigh = .00, p N .01), thereby rejecting H2a. We found that the indirect
effect of MT usage on work engagement through job autonomy was
significant (β (indirect) = .09, CIlow = .05 & CIhigh = .17, p b .01), thereby
supporting H2b. Table 5 summarizes the results.
5. Discussion
This study found that the Japanese workers' MT usage enhanced
their work engagement through their job autonomy. Workers' MT
usage did not have any significant effect on their emotional exhaustion.
This finding presents an atypical psychological experience that is con-
tradictory to previous findings of the MT effects being a double-edged
sword. Our findings highlight that the Japanese workers tend to use
MT rather enthusiastically (see Matusik & Mickel, 2011) and are invigo-
rated by MT, through exercising greater job autonomy and greater work
engagement, despite MT blurring the boundary between work and non-
work hours and activities. The job autonomy and social connectivity
through 24/7 MT usage appears to encourage the Japanese workers to
be more energized, dedicated, and absorbed in carrying out their
work. Despite the workaholic culture in Japan, workers' MT usage
appears to turn workers from being unfulfilled workaholics to fulfilled
workaholics, or happier and more engaged workers (c.f., Machlowitz,
1980; Schaufeli, Shimazu, & Taris, 2009).
Previous MT literature from the West commonly agrees that MT
provides both job demands and resources for workers, counterbalancing
its positive and negative effects on workers' well-being (e.g., Diaz et al.,
2012). The positive effects of ICT were identified as the access to informa-
tion and greater flexibility (e.g., Golden & Geisler, 2007; Migliarese &
Paolucci, 1995; O'Driscoll et al., 2010; Standen, Daniels, & Lamond,
1999), greater control over work process (Teo et al., 1998), improved
efficiency (Dewett & Jones, 2001), increased communication among
colleagues, managers, and subordinates (Pickering & King, 1995;
Zaccaro & Bader, 2003), and enhanced job satisfaction and organizational

Table 5
Standardized direct and indirect effects.

Bootstrap bias-corrected method 95% confidence interval (CI) to calculate path estimates

Paths Standardized estimates SE Lower CI Upper CI p-value Support for hypotheses

Direct effects
MT on emotional exhaustion .10 .07 −.06 .24 .18 H1a: no
MT on work engagement −.08 .07 −.21 .15 .37 H1b: no
MT on job autonomy .24 .05 .12 .33 .01 -
Job autonomy on emotional exhaustion −.13 .08 −.33 .44 .13 -
Job autonomy on work engagement .39 .06 .28 .57 .00 -
Indirect effects
MT on Emotional Exhaustion via Job Autonomy −.03 .02 −.11 .00 .09 H2a: no
MT on Work Engagement via Job Autonomy .09 .02 .05 .17 .00 H2b: yes

Note: CI = confidence interval level; SE = standard error.

 Y. Fujimoto et al. / Journal of Business Research 69 (2016) 3315–3323
commitment despite the increased work-life conflicts (Diaz et al., 2012;
Kelliher & Anderson, 2010). This study extends on previous MT studies
by integrating and testing the link between the MT usage and a work-
related positive psychological variable (i.e., work engagement) through
job autonomy, which has not been tested in the previous studies. This
study found that workers' MT usage enhanced job autonomy and, in
turn, produced greater work engagement.
On the other hand, past studies from the West have identified
negative psychological effects of ICT, such as techno-stress and anxiety
(Brod, 1982; Karasek & Theorell, 1990; Meuter, Ostrom, Bitner, &
Roundtree, 2003; Thorpe & Brosnan, 2007), frustration and decrease
in family and non-work time (Brough & Kalliath, 2009; Ramsey,
Ibbotson, & McCole, 2008), information/work overload (Day et al.,
2010), and work intensification (Kelliher & Anderson, 2010). Our
study tested its effect on emotional exhaustion, which is the work-
related negative psychological variable. We found that emotional
exhaustion was not associated with the MT usage. According to the
Job-Demand–Resource model (Demerouti et al., 2001) and its related
work-engagement study (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004), one could envisage
that both work engagement (positive psychology) and emotional
exhaustion (negative psychology) would be enhanced through MT,
with additional job resources and job demands resulting in the psycho-
logical tension of having to always respond to work demands anywhere
and anytime (Mauno et al., 2007). Within the context of Japan, however,
this was not the case. MT appears to act as a life resource that fuels more
energy to workers to concentrate on and devote to their work. A meta-
analysis study, which Gajendran & Harrison (2007) conducted, identi-
fied that perceived autonomy partially mediates the relationship
between workers' telecommuting (from home) and work-related
psychological outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction). Our findings provided
additional insights by highlighting that perceived job autonomy fully
mediates the relation between workers' MT usage and their level of
work engagement. Additionally, we identified that MT usage did not
have a direct positive effect on work engagement.
There are boundary conditions for the generalizability of our find-
ings. The first condition is that workers labor excessively long hours.
Such workers may find that the MT usage anywhere and anytime as
an enhancement to their job autonomy. MT devices enable them to be
physically and/or psychologically close to their family and friends
during their excessively long working hours and, as a result, allow
them to carry out their tasks without having to worry about disconnec-
tion from significant others (c.f., Boswell, Olson-Buchanan, & LePine,
2004; Golden & Geisler, 2007). The second boundary condition is that
the workers are employed by organizations that offer a reasonable
flexible working arrangement for them to decide on how their jobs
can be carried out. Such workers are given more opportunities to
leverage the benefits of MT than those working within a fixed working
hour arrangement, thereby they are likely to demonstrate more work
engagement. In the emerging information and service economy, long
working hours and work flexibility are widely accepted organizational
practices (Johnson & Lipscomb, 2006; Smith, 1997). Therefore, these
boundary conditions are often applicable to contemporary workers.
However, there are socio-psychological conditions that are unique to
Japan that limit the generalizability of our findings. Current research
on MT usage in the West highlights warnings of work and non-work
conflicts that could potentially result in workers' emotional exhaustion
(e.g., Diaz et al., 2012; Fenner & Renn, 2010). However, the present
study reported that MT usage in Japan did not indicate signs of emotional
exhaustion. There are two possible social reasons for this effect. First, a
majority of Japanese workers in Japan travel to and from their offices
via public transport (e.g., train or bus), therefore they have more time
than those travelling by car to browse the Internet, respond to email,
and engage with social networking services (SNSs). Using MT devices in
their borderlands (i.e., neither their office nor their home) may foster
their perception of job autonomy and they may benefit from the effective
use of time that does not produce a feeling of emotional exhaustion (c.f.,
3321
Golden & Geisler, 2007). Second, social connectivity created by MT
meets Japanese workers' need for social connectivity with their
colleagues, friends, and families at any time. This reduces uncertainty
in all life domains and reduces social isolation, which is associated
with work-related death in Japan (Durkheim, 2006; Kawanishi, 2008;
Pinguet, 1993).
Regardless of workers' mindset of a tendency to separate or inte-
grate their work and non-work domains in life (Kossek et al., 2006),
managerial MT accountability is important to foster employees' positive
mindset in both domains (c.f., Lockwood, 2007; Seijts & Crim, 2006). For
example, in Japan, MT has recently been used by a few line managers in
order to foster social connectively within workgroups so as to keep
workers informed of each other's life activities including work
challenges (Japan Broadcasting Corporation, 2013). As a result, there
has been a better climate for workgroups where workers assist each
other's workloads and encourage each other to engage in non-work
activities by leaving their offices at the completion of their official work-
ing time. Better social connectivity inside and outside the office may
bring about better work productivity through more invigorated and
dedicated workers who are well connected with their managers,
colleagues, subordinates, families, and friends.
We acknowledge a few limitations of this study. This study examined
the MT usage of Japanese workers in Japan. Therefore, the findings from
this study need to be tested in other contexts. Workers' MT experiences
may differ depending on the level of MT exposure and familiarity in a
given context (Day et al., 2010). Ultimately, this study showed that MT
usage in socio-psychological conditions of Japan demonstrated only
positive psychological effects that challenged the conventional prediction
in the literature. Over time, MT and human agencies in organizations can
work hand-in-hand to create flexible organizational norms, arrange-
ments, practices, and support in relation to different socio-psychological
conditions so that workers can have a better work and non-work lives
through the use of MT.
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