Behaviour & Information Technology

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Encouraging positive emotions to cope with

technostress’s adverse effects: insights into the
broaden-and-build theory

Sriwidharmanely Sriwidharmanely, Sumiyana Sumiyana, Jogiyanto H.

Mustakini & Ertambang Nahartyo

To cite this article: Sriwidharmanely Sriwidharmanely, Sumiyana Sumiyana, Jogiyanto

H. Mustakini & Ertambang Nahartyo (2022) Encouraging positive emotions to cope with
technostress’s adverse effects: insights into the broaden-and-build theory, Behaviour &
Information Technology, 41:10, 2201-2214, DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2021.1955008

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BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
2022, VOL. 41, NO. 10, 2201–2214
https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2021.1955008

Encouraging positive emotions to cope with technostress’s adverse effects:

insights into the broaden-and-build theory
Sriwidharmanely Sriwidharmanely, Sumiyana Sumiyana , Jogiyanto H. Mustakini and Ertambang Nahartyo
Faculty of Economics and Business, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

This study investigates the role of positive performance feedback for information and Received 17 October 2020
communications technology (ICT) users, who could have either low or high levels of self-control. Accepted 8 July 2021
It could, moreover, explain the impact of that technological pressure on the users’ performance,
KEYWORDS
resulting in their achieving less. This study employs three techno-stressors, i.e. complexity, Technostress; broaden and
system errors, and work-overload in the experimental setting. By applying a contrast analysis, build theory; positive
we confirm that the broaden-and-build theory explains that positive emotion can build the feedback; self-control
capabilities of ICTS users to cope with the pressured technostress. This research concludes that
users with low self-control who receive positive feedback perform better than those who
receive negative feedback. It implies that to succeed with the implementation of information
systems and their applications. The users must undergo therapy to feel good in their cognitive
flow and believe that this ICT cannot harm them. Likewise, the development managers could
boost the users’ positive emotions, so they have more trust and better engagement with the
information systems and applications. This research finally infers that the users’ cognition
should be broadened and built with experiential values, improving their positive emotions.

1. Introduction
The users’ performance and continued use of ICT reflect
its successful implementation (Serrano and Karahanna
2016). However, not all users feel that they can adapt
to the systems’ requirements or technologies known as
technostress (Brod 1984). Furthermore, if this technos-
tress continues, it will have a destructive emotional
impact on the users’ cognition. It would ultimately
affect the users’ outcome of using ICT, such as harming
their achievements (Tarafdar et al. 2007; Tarafdar, Tu,
and Ragu-Nathan 2010; Ragu-Nathan et al. 2008;
Sumiyana and Sriwidharmanely 2020). This study posits
Sumiyana and Sriwidharmanely (2020), who explained
the impact of technostress on ICT users with either con-
front or transform personalities. However, all the extant
research did not discuss the users’ self-control or make
recommendations for the systems and application’s
development. In other words, the study concentrates
on the engineering process for the users’ emotional cog-
nition, which is intended to maintain the continued use
of the system’s information and applications.
First, this study conducted a literature review for
coping strategies that can overcome the negative impact
of technostress. All these articles concentrated on
techniques that were problem-focused rather than
emotion-based. Meanwhile, emotion-based coping
strategies influence problem-based strategies (Liang
et al. 2019). Thus, this study adopted the emotion-
based approach to cope with the adverse effects of tech-
nostress. This research considers that technostress is an
unpleasant emotional state for users since they cannot
adapt to new information systems or technology. It,
therefore, is necessary to bring into being positive
emotions for the ICT users (Fredrickson 2013a) to pre-
vent any further decline in their performance. In other
words, this study investigates the role of positive per-
formance feedback for ICT users who have low self-
control so that technological pressures do not impact
their performance level. The research objective focuses
on combining positive feedback and self-control that
could change the users’ performance.
From the published research reviews, this study is the
first one that investigates the role of positive emotions in
overcoming dysfunctional behaviour due to technos-
tress from the implementation of information systems
and application technologies. This research confirms
the broaden-and-build theory (Fredrickson 2013a),
which posits that positive emotions arouse other

CONTACT Sumiyana Sumiyana sumiyana@ugm.ac.id

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
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upon in any way.
2202 S. SRIWIDHARMANELY ET AL.
individual resources so that they can develop them for
survival. We argue that ICT users with low self-control
would minimise their task performance. Positive
emotions could mitigate users’ performance by indu-
cing positive task performance feedback. Most users
usually feel that they have paid attention to and sup-
ported their superiors, generating positive emotions.
They furtherly encourage themselves to work with the
new technology, which makes their performance even
better. It shows they are flourishing. Thus, positive feed-
back boosts the users’ beliefs because they can improve
their interactions with the technology, so this would not
disrupt or degrade their performance at the end of their
work.
This research method posits Sumiyana and Sriwid-
harmanely (2020) and investigates the impact of tech-
nostress and its association with users’ personalities. It
expanded and simultaneously transformed the exper-
imental research design of Sumiyana and Sriwidharma-
nely (2020). We changed from previously only studying
one technostress stressor to studying three of them. The
former research was designed to differentiate between
the confrontational personality and the
transforming one. Meanwhile, this study develops the
combined covariates of the users’ self-control and posi-
tive and negative feedback. For the data collection, this
study used online-based experimental research.
This study indicates that positive task performance
feedback could boost the positive emotions of ICT
users. It documents that the users who have low self-
control also produce poor task performance. Still, if
they receive therapy and positive feedback, their per-
formance is better than those who receive negative feed-
back. Furthermore, the study shows that positive
emotions play an essential role when ICT users face
the harmful effects of technostress on their performance
(Liang et al. 2019; Fredrickson 2013b). Moreover, this
study finds that positive emotions affect both those
with low and high self-control. It found that both low
and high self-control are not different. It means that
positive emotions have a more significant effect in miti-
gating the adverse impacts of ICT technostress. From
the perspective of experiential values, this study argues
that ICT users who get positive feedback could improve
their cognitive flow state (Gámez et al. 2011; Jacob and
Boyter 2020). It explains that the positive feedback
could transform the users’ cognition from unpleasant
to pleasant, dissatisfaction to enjoyment, boredom to
entertainment, and others. It furthermore means that
the users’ self-efficacy and individual innovativeness
could be enhanced because of the positive feedback.
This study contributes to the extended success model
of the information systems or technology’s
implementation, which employs ICT users’ experiential
values regarding their flourishing when using the sys-
tem. Therefore, it is important to find a strategy that
can overcome or minimise the risk of failure when
implementing new ICT systems, especially in terms of
user behaviour, which will impact their performance.
This study’s result supports the ICT managers in their
decision making when dealing with their staffs’ dysfunc-
tional behaviour because of the new ICT technostress.
The ICT managers should consider that the users will
become stressed when the new information systems
and applications require either procedural or technical
input. ICT managers must develop the users’ experience
to continue to arouse positive emotions when they want
to use new information systems and applications. It
means that the users do not have to feel uncomfortable
or pressured.
Finally, the rest of this paper was organised as fol-
lows: In Section 2, we deal with the literature review
and develop our hypotheses. Section 3 describes the
complete research methods for the participant’s selected
to undergo the hypotheses’ testing. Section 4 discusses
the research findings. Finally, we close with our study’s
conclusions, limitations, and implications.
2. The literature Review and hypotheses
development
2.1. Technostress and coping strategy
This study posited Brod (1984), Ragu-Nathan et al.
(2008), Srivastava, Chandra, and Shirish (2015), and
Stich et al. (2017) in explaining that technostress is
an unpleasant emotional situation. This undesirable
situation occurs when users must deal with ICT
because they cannot match ICT requirements with
their ability to adapt. Brod (1984) firstly introduced
technostress as a disease caused by either a person’s
inability to adjust to new computer technology or an
underlying previous health condition. The technostress
manifests itself as either the ICT users’ over-identifi-
cation with or anxiety about using a computer. Ragu-
Nathan et al. (2008) described technostress as a pro-
blem when users cannot overcome their difficulties or
become familiar with ICT. Meanwhile, Srivastava,
Chandra, and Shirish (2015) concluded that technos-
tress occurs when demand or pressure exceeds ICT
users’ resources or ability to cope with or mediate the
technostress. Finally, Stich et al. (2017) suggested that
information systems and technology are anxiety factors
that the users get from their use of ICT, which are
stressors (creators of technology) and strain (the result
of technostress).

Technostress harms ICT users’ outputs (Qi 2019;
Ragu-Nathan et al. 2008; Tarafdar, Tu, and Ragu-
Nathan 2010; Hung, Chen, and Lin 2015). The ICT
users have tried to solve their problems and adapt to
the new information system and its applications. This
study considers two strategies in which the ICT users
could use these approaches (Beaudry and Pinsonneault
2005); they are coping strategies that focus on the pro-
blems and emotions (Monat, Averill, and Lazarus
1972). A problem-focused strategy refers to an attempt
to improve the person-environment fit by changing
the users’ experience. Meanwhile, emotion-focused or
palliative strategies refer to thoughts or actions that
aim to alleviate stress’s emotional impact.
The ICT users probably feel that the new implemen-
tation of the information system and applications is a
threat. They usually feel that their capabilities are not
compatible with the ICT’s requirements and have lim-
ited control over them.They then feel uncomfortable
because of technostress. They will implement strategies
to overcome these painful experiences (mitigation),
whether they are related to the users’ psychological
expectations, rejection, or wishful thinking (inward),
or related to releasing and seeking support that affects
their emotions directly (outward). This strategy mainly
focuses on the effort to restore emotional stability and
reduce the tension caused by implementing these new
ICTs, which result in adverse impacts. This study infers
that the users’ coping strategies are based on the control
theory. It means that the users’ self-control is used to
ensure that they could implement the system success-
fully. On the other hand, it considers the users’ self-con-
trol because the system’s development process is
complex and needs intense involvement within various
agents’ interaction (Kirsch and Cummings 1996). Based
on the users’ side, this study argues that the users’ self-
control and information feedback are the types of strat-
egies that have a direct impact.
2.2. Self-control and task performance feedback
Kirsch and Cummings (1996) explained that pro-
fessional ICT users have to exercise self-control to pur-
sue organisational control. For an information system’s
development, Kirsch and Cummings (1996) suggested
that the tasks’ characteristics require a self-control
mechanism because it is often difficult for system devel-
opers to formulate a job’s specific rules, procedures, and
objectives. Self-control could improve the ICT users
confidence in authorising their work or other users
(Kirsch and Cummings 1996). On another side, feed-
back is a communication process that involves a source
(sender) and destination (receiver) (Ilgen, Fisher, and
BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 2203
Taylor 1979). Concerning the system’s performance
aspects or understanding, the ICT itself could provide
information feedback to the users who search for
answers and solutions to evaluate whether they get the
correct response or not (Hattie and Timperley 2007).
Kluger and DeNisi (1996) found that information
feedback would positively affect users’ behaviour. They
documented that more than one-third of the interven-
tions were associated with poor performance. This
study argues that the users get their experiential values
by using the information system and application. Posi-
tive feedback is expected to restore their emotional stab-
ility or increase the users’ self-efficacy and reduce the
pressure caused by ICT implementation when they
were at their assigned tasks. In other words, the users
felt a positive emotion. Therefore, this study concludes
that providing positive feedback could lessen the nega-
tive impact of technostress on their task performance.
2.3. Broaden-and-build theory
The broaden-and-build theory posits that positive
emotions serve to expand the repertoire of an individ-
ual’s momentary thought-action. This theory is used
to explain the effect of building up an individual’s phys-
ical, intellectual, and social resources (Fredrickson 1998,
2013b). This research considered that individuals’
experiential values of positive emotions expand their
thinking and acting abilities. They could increase their
resources, such as greater optimism and better relation-
ships. It furthermore noted that increased personal
resources would ultimately lead to better outcomes in
various fields (Schutte 2014). We then argued that posi-
tive emotion signals the development of ICT users. In
other words, this research argues that positive emotions
help ICT users when they want to cultivate and achieve
their psychological growth and improve their well-
being.
Related to the crime theory (Gottfredson and Hirschi
1990), low self-control also causes a person to commit
crimes. It means that ICT users with low self-control
and who experience technostress cannot control their
emotions and feel uncomfortable when using ICT; this
would further exacerbate the negative impact of tech-
nostress on their job performance. This study, therefore,
demonstrates that it is necessary to provide positive
emotions and positive feedback, which can reduce the
pressure of an ICT’s implementation. In other words,
all ICT users hope that they could strengthen their intel-
lectual resources and self-control, which would make
them feel comfortable and ultimately lessen the negative
impact of technostress.
2204 S. SRIWIDHARMANELY ET AL.

2.4. Self-control and ICTs user performance enhance their agility and responsiveness. While feed-
back values are routinely acknowledged, there is limited
Self-control refers to attempts to override or alter the
evidence of how they can best be fostered and their con-
predominance of an individual’s response tendencies
tribution to enabling performance. Furthermore,
(Bandura 1989). Kirsch and Cummings (1996) stated
Krenn, Würth, and Hergovich (2013) showed that the
that self-control profoundly contributes to ICT users’
task performance of participants who received positive
confidence in their ability to manage their work or
feedback was higher than those of those who received
other users and their work’s physical form. This study
negative feedback.
shows that ICT users must exercise their self-control
This study, therefore, constructs the argument that
in pursuit of their task’s accomplishment. Historically,
ICT users, with their experiential values of technostress,
self-control has been utilised as a master virtue that
feel uncomfortable or pressured. This technostress
makes all the others possible; it is the key to adaptive
could reduce the users’ concentration or increase errors
success and central to virtuous behaviour (Baumeister
when they are completing their tasks. It means that the
and Exline 2000). Schmeichel and Zell (2007) concluded
ICT users would have a reduced performance when
that high self-control traits associated with a host of
completing their assignments. For this reason, the ICT
positive outcomes in life, including satisfying interper-
users’ efforts are needed to relieve discomfort or
sonal relationships, low death anxiety, good grades,
increase confidence in their self-efficacy, whether they
and happiness. The ability to control responding con-
are provided with positive feedback or not. This study
tributes likely to the many positive outcomes associated
demonstrates that when ICT users experience technos-
with high self-control trait.
tress due to technological advances in Accounting
Moreover, this research posits Tangney, Baumeister,
Information System (AIS), they would be motivated to
and Boone (2004), who showed that individuals with
accomplish their task, whether they were facilitated by
high self-control perform better than those with less
positive feedback about their work assignments or not.
control. This study, therefore, argues that ICT users
Thus, they could still have a great deal of motivation
with greater self-control should have greater confidence
to complete their duties correctly. This study, therefore,
in their ability to overcome the requirements for the
formulates the following hypothesis.
new ICT’s implementation. It means that they have
Hypothesis H2: Task performance of ICT users who
already gotten their experiential values from their use
receive positive feedback will be more excellent than
of the former system. In other words, ICT users, with
negative feedback.
their experiential values, could enhance their self-
efficacy. They feel comfortable with new technology
because of their greater self-control. Finally, they could 2.6. Technostress, self-control, performance
complete their tasks and maintain their performance feedback, and ICT’s user outcomes
levels. This study formulates the following hypothesis.
This study explains that users with high self-control
Hypothesis H1: Task performance of ICT users with
levels would usually have more self-confidence in their
better self-control will be more excellent than those with
ability to overcome the requirements for new ICT’s
less control.
implementation (Gavriel-Fried and Ronen 2016). It
means that ICT users could reduce the negative impact
of technostress due to their self-efficacy. Self-control is a
2.5. Performance feedback and ICTs user
primary key to adaptive success and a core of intelligent
performance
behaviour, requiring an adjustment to socially desirable
The feedback intervention theory (Kluger and DeNisi standards, not pursuing selfish goals (Baumeister and
1996) suggested that information could be directed to Exline 2000). Furthermore, this study focuses on indi-
people who involve their self-thought processes to viduals with low self-control in comparison with others.
divert attention from their tasks and hurt their perform- The crime theory explained that a person would tend to
ance. This study considers that information could either perform dysfunctional actions when they have low self-
be feedback or predictive values for the ICT users, control (Gottfredson and Hirschi 1990). It means that
whether they want to utilise it or not. From the manage- when users have experiential values with information
rial perspective, this information could be used to influ- technology, the negative impact on their task perform-
ence ICT users’ cognition. In a quasi-experimental ance will be further triggered by their lack of self-con-
protocol for the REMARK program, Ossenberg, Mitch- trol. They commit crimes because they have a limited
ell, and Henderson (2020) showed that it is essential to ability to resist temptation, so they perform dysfunc-
build teams’ capacity to improve feedback practices to tional actions. Therefore, this study argues that the

ability to restore users’ emotional stability and maintain
their tension due to ICT is needed to facilitate their con-
tinuance of ICT use. From another perspective, infor-
mation system managers must control the users do
not have a worse impact. In other words, this study pro-
poses the essential role of positive feedback.
This study posits the broaden-and-build theory,
especially on positive emotions. It states that positive
emotions serve to expand the repertoire of individuals’
momentary thought-action, which affect the users
when they build up their physical, intellectual, and
social resources (Fredrickson 1998, 2013a). In the work-
place, these resources are important assets that help
individuals and groups overcome adversity, adapt to
change, propose innovative ideas, manage their work-
loads, and collaborate efficiently (Knight and Eisenkraft
2015). Individuals who achieve positive conditions, such
as subjective well-being, will achieve positive work out-
comes (Davies, Stankov, and Roberts 1998). Positive
emotions can help regulate the side effects of negative
emotions and restore the physiological and psychologi-
cal conditions necessary for optimal functioning (Fre-
drickson 2004; Fredrickson et al. 2000).
Janssen, Lam, and Huang (2010), who used the
broaden-and-build theory, found that high levels of
positive affect buffered the negative two-way interaction
effect of emotional exhaustion by distributive justice on
emotional display. In contrast, these types of perform-
ance further declined in the case of low levels of positive
affect. Following the broaden-and-build theory, Simard
and Zuniga (2020) proved that high school ESL (English
as a Second Language) learners immediately produced
emotions after receiving their corrected text related to
successive revision. Building on positive psychology,
particularly broaden-and-build theory, Lutovac et al.
(2017) consider lecturers’ emotional responses as spirals
and thus had identified upward and downward
emotional spirals regarding student feedback. Thus,
Liu et al. (2020) confirmed the roles of happiness (an
intrinsic driver) and knowledge sharing (an extrinsic
driver) affecting team performance in industrial tech-
nology. On the other side, Schutte (2014) confirmed
that the broaden-and-build theory supports the role of
self-efficacy as a mediator in the relationship between
increased positive effects and changes in work. They fur-
thermore explain that changes in self-efficacy are also
associated with increased job satisfaction and mental
health. Broadening their thinking to cultivate positive
emotions will provide ICT users having resources for
coping with technology stressor (Lutovac et al. 2017).
This study, therefore, argues that ICT users with low
control have experiential values about new information
technology and would feel annoyed with the existing
BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 2205
capabilities and resources. They then thought that
they could not work with this new ICT. If this technos-
tress continued, the ICT users’ performance would wor-
sen due to handicapped interactions with the latest
information technologies. Madan, Scott, and Kensinger
(2019) suggested that positive feedback information is
processed differently than negative feedback. By culti-
vating positive emotions, people can better receive feed-
back and criticism (Raghunathan and Trope 1995).
Frisch (2000) also noted that individuals who are hap-
pier and more satisfied with life tend to be more resist-
ant to stress, better at problem-solving and have higher
performance. Positive feedback will generate ICT users’
positive emotions because they are motivated to com-
plete their tasks well. This research inferred that a posi-
tive emotion broadens the users’ confidence in their
ability to face the ICT’s requirements. Finally, this
enhanced confidence has a better impact on the ICT
users’ task performance.
This study argues that the essential aspect of the
information system managers’ role is to restore the
user’s emotional stability or increase their self-efficacy.
This argument demonstrates that new information tech-
nology could reduce the pressure caused by technostress
due to the latest ICT’s implementation by giving positive
feedback about the user’s assigned task. We finally devel-
oped an argument that says the combination of positive
feedback and the users’ self-control could reduce the
negative impact of technostress on their task perform-
ance. In other words, the combination of users’ self-con-
trol and positive feedback is the mutually un-exclusive
method for empowering the continued use of infor-
mation systems and their applications. We, therefore, for-
mulated the following hypothesis.
Hypothesis H3: Task performance of ICT users with
less self-control will be greater when they have simul-
taneously positive feedback than when they get negative
feedback.
3. Research methods
3.1. Research design
This research conducted an online experiment to test
the proposed hypotheses. This study used a matrix of
2 × 2 between-subject design (Table 1). We designed
this research with an individual unit analysis. Two
Table 1. Research design.
Feedback
Self-Control Positive Negative
Low Group-1 Group-3
High Group-2 Group-4
2206 S. SRIWIDHARMANELY ET AL.

independent variables were self-control (high and low)

and task performance feedback (negative and positive).
Meanwhile, the independent variable was ITC users’
task performance.

3.2. Experimental tasks

We transformed the experimental design, which
Sumiyana and Sriwidharmanely (2020) had implemented
with the users’ personality. This experimental task was
also based on the study by Riedl et al. (2012). This
research’s design allowed the participants to act as account
officer in a firm. The participants were told they had to
finish the account’s classification. In this system, the
researcher designed the techno-stressor, which were
introduced into the system. They are system complexity,
system breakdown and work-overload. In finishing the
task, we created two different displays for the error mess-
age (i.e. system break-down) for the groups’ technostress
(low and high). The researcher believed that the exper-
imental tasks were not used by all the extant studies
(shown in Figure 1). The experiment’s program also
assigned a notification of the users’ task performance feed-
back. The message was either for the positive group or the
negative one. Figure 2 shows the design of the task’s per-
formance feedback notification. The participants com- Figure 1. (a) Notification of system breakdown for low technos-
pleted their assigned tasks according to the context of tress group. (b) Notification of system breakdown for high tech-
the group they were allocated to, and they had to complete nostress group.
the routine and structured tasks using a mandated system.

3.3. Experimental procedure

After receiving the link to this study’s experimental pro-
gram, both undergraduate and master’s students partici-
pated in this study. We distributed the connections
based on the list which they had filled in before. We
use a colleague’s network to collect and then improve
the number of participants. This research shared a con-
nection that allowed the participants to join in this
research. It then selected participants through the
experimental program to access directly via any avail-
able web browser. Once they had opened the exper-
imental program, the experimental program’s first
screen appeared on the login homepage. To start the
experimental program, participants must first sign in
by typing their name. They did not have to provide
their full name; they could use their initial name.
After signing in, the participants filled out the con-
sent form. If they voluntarily wanted to continue parti-
cipating in the experimental program, they could select
the ‘yes’ button; otherwise, they could press the ‘no’ but- Figure 2. (a) Notification of negative task performance feedback
ton to stop participating in this study. Participants were group. (b) Notification of positive task performance feedback
randomised (directly from the system) into groups group.

according to the treatment given (high or low technol-
ogy, positive or negative feedback). Next, the partici-
pants entered the initial part of the experimental
program, which displayed the company’s profile, infor-
mation about the participant’s position in the company,
and an explanation of their assigned tasks. In this first
stage, we asked the participants to read all the company
information and carefully follow the experimental pro-
gram’s instructions. We designed this situation to see
if they could figure out that the experimental program
was the mandatory system. If they did not comply or
interacted with the computer, they pressed any keys or
moved the cursor to force the next screen– the exper-
imental program was interrupted. They could not con-
tinue to access the program.
After the first part of the experimental program was
displayed, the participants prepared to complete the
main task. For preparation, we designed the simulation
to classify the three available accounts randomly. Par-
ticipants could check their answers, and they could try
three times. After completing this phase, the participants
entered the next stage to complete the main task. The sys-
tem randomly allocated all the accounts that the partici-
pants had to resolve in this experimental program. Each
participant received information about the job to be com-
pleted, whether it had high or low technostress, the num-
ber of accounts that must be classified and the time to
complete the task. The program asked the low technos-
tress group to group 12 accounts, while the high technos-
tress group had to organise 18 accounts. The experiment
program informed each participant that they must com-
plete the task within 150 s. The participant then pressed
the ‘start’ button to enter the main task. In carrying out
the main charge, participants in the low technostress
group clicked on choosing the primary account provided,
according to the classified accounts. In contrast, the par-
ticipants who were in the high technostress group had to
type in the name of the parent account of their choice.
As soon as the participants focused on carrying out
their task, which was about 60 s after the participant’s
first ‘clicked’ or typed to complete the classification,
the experimental program displayed an ‘error message’
on their computer screen. The participants were asked
to press the ‘retry’ button for the low technostress
group. Meanwhile, they had to press the ‘abort’ button
on the screen for the high technostress group, followed
by pressing the ‘Esc’ button on the computer’s keyboard
to continue their work. A 120s, participants in the posi-
tive feedback group received a message that their task per-
formance was above average, and vice versa for the
negative feedback group who received notice that their
task performance was below average. Receiving this
notification, participants continued their work by clicking
BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 2207
on the available ‘close’ button. If the participants com-
pleted the task in less than 150 s, they continued their
activity by pressing the ‘save’ button. However, if they
could not finish within 150 s, the system automatically
saved the task and immediately switched to the question
section for manipulation and internalisation checks.
In the question section, all the participants had to
answer four manipulation check questions and an
internalisation. After completing the five questions,
they pressed the ‘save and continue’ button to enter
the third part, which required them to fill out a ques-
tionnaire about self-control. Thirty-six statements
were filled in by the participants, according to con-
ditions that reflected on themselves. After filling out
the questionnaire, they pressed the ‘save & continue’
button again and entered the experimental program’s
final part. Here, we asked the participants to provide
their demographic information. The data are related
to gender, age, latest education, occupation, and any
accounting computer applications which they have
studied. After filling in their demographic data, the
experimental program ended, and they received a
thank-you note. According to their group, the
researcher then provided information about compen-
sation if they could correctly list all the accounts, they
worked in. We also compensated all the participants
with internet credits.
3.4. Variable measurement
This research had three independent variables, which
were technostress, self-control, and task performance
feedback. We only employed self-control and task per-
formance feedback as the tested variables for the
hypotheses testing, while technostress acted as the con-
stant condition. We still manipulated the technostress
condition (high and low) using three techno-stressors.
They were ICT’s complexity (Tarafdar et al. 2007; Tar-
afdar, Tu, and Ragu-Nathan 2010), system errors
(Riedl et al. 2012) and work-overload (Ragu-Nathan
et al. 2008; Ayyagari, Grover, and Purvis 2011). In the
experiment program, we manipulated the feedback by
providing information about the users’ performance
that was below standard (negative message) and
above-average (positive note), developed from the
modified study of Krenn, Würth, and Hergovich (2013).
We measured the level of self-control using the
instrument of Tangney, Baumeister, and Boone
(2004), which reflected the participants’ self-control.
We did the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to ana-
lyse the 36 items of the self-control instrument. The
final result related to the validity constructs showed
that only ten items reflected this variable, having factor
2208 S. SRIWIDHARMANELY ET AL.

loadings of more than 0.5 (Hair et al. 2019). They were: application training, and 19 students accessed the exper-
‘I find it difficult to get rid of bad habits’; ‘I am lazy’; ‘I imental program directly. To ensure that there was no
say inappropriate things’; ‘I do certain things that are compound effect from their demographic factors, we
bad for me if they are fun’; ‘I spent too much money’; used the randomisation test. The test results showed
‘I am reliable’; ‘People will say that I have strong self-dis- no mean differences in the users’ task performance
cipline’; ‘I have trouble concentrating’; ‘Sometimes I based on gender, education background, having
can’t stop doing something, even if I know it’s wrong’; accounting application training, and access types in
and ‘I am always on time.’ The reliability test’s results this experimental program.
also showed that the 10 statement items were reliable
by having a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.813, which
was more than the 0.7 amount required (Hair et al. 3.6. Manipulation checks
2019). This study had a dependent variable, which was After the participants completed the main experimen-
the task performance of ICT users. In this study, we tal task, the researcher assigned four manipulation
measured the users’ task performance directly, based checks. First, the experimental design asked each par-
on the number of accounts correctly classified by the ticipant to indicate whether they went to the following
participants according to each treatment group’s com- stages through a complex system or not. Second, the
pletion targets. experimental design asked the participants whether
their concentration had been disturbed when complet-
3.5. Participants ing the account classifying task by the computer
screen’s error messages. Third, the experimental
This study participants were 99 undergraduate and mas- design asked the participants to indicate whether
ter’s student from Gadjah Mada University, Bengkulu they were interrupted by the deadline notification
University, Jendral Sudirman University and Muham- when completing their task. Fourth, the experimental
madiyah University in Magelang. This study chose design asked the participant to show whether they
these universities based on collegial networks and the felt annoyed or not with this information feedback.
ease of access for researchers when distributing inter- Participants provided their responses on a scale of
net-based experimental programs. The researchers 1–10. In addition to the manipulation checks, we
finally had to use an internet-based method because it asked questions about the participants’ status in the
was impossible to carry it out in a computer laboratory experiment to find out if they read and followed the
due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For the distribution of program’s instructions carefully.
this internet-based experimental program, the exper-
imenter coordinated it all through two events: using
Google meetings and independently. For those who 4. Results and discussion
went through Google meetings, the participants regis- 4.1. Descriptive statistic
tered via a Google form before starting a predetermined
schedule. Meanwhile, the program’s connection was The descriptive statistics for the users’ task performance
provided directly by the contact experimenter via the were presented in Table 2, both overall and in each
class group’s WhatsApp, independently. Students parti- group. This study investigated four groups of ICT
cipating in this research were from the undergraduate users for their technostress related to self-control
and master’s accounting program taking information (high and low) and task performance feedback (positive
systems courses, management information systems, and negative). The mean values of the ICT users’ per-
accounting information systems, and information sys- formance for the experimental groups that received
tems. These criteria were intended to ensure that the
participants had sufficient knowledge regarding the Table 2. Users’ task performance per group.
concept of human behaviour with ICT. Feedback
The registered participants numbered 155 students. Factors and levels Positive Negative Total
Out of the 155 participants, 56 failed to complete the Self-Control Low n = 27 n = 26 n = 53
experiment program due to network errors, not per- x = 0.92 x = 0.48 x = 0.71
σ = 0.20 σ = 0.25 σ = 0.32
forming a mandatory task, or did not fit the manipu- High n = 27 n = 19 n = 46
lation checks. The composition of the respondents x = 1.01 x = 0.57 x = 0.83
σ = 0.23 σ = 0.28 σ = 0.33
were 75 female participants and 24 males. There were Total n = 54 n = 45
86 undergraduate and 13 master’s students. Some par- x = 0.97 x = 0.52
σ = 0.22 σ = 0.26
ticipants (43) had already received accounting
 BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 2209

feedback were directionally consistent with our theor- control ICT users was significantly lower than that of
etical expectation; the mean value for positive task per- the high self-control users. This research’s results sup-
formance feedback was higher than that for the negative port the second hypothesis (H2). It shows a difference
feedback. Table 2 also shows that the ICT users’ low self- in task performance between ICT users who had posi-
control has a lower mean value for their task perform- tive feedback and negative feedback (p = 0.00). ICT
ance than those with better self-control. Thus, this users’ task performance was significantly higher when
study infers that the user’s self-control and task per- they received positive feedback than those who received
formance feedback genuinely influence the ICT user’s negative feedback. Our hypothesis predicted positive
performance concerning their technostress state. task performance feedback would boost the ICT users’
positive emotions who experienced technostress. This
would be reflected in their higher task performance
4.2. Statistical results and analysis
than that of those who had negative feedback. Further-
This study used a contrast analysis (Buckless and Raven- more, this hypothesis specified that Group 1 would be
scroft 1990; Guggenmos, Piercey, and Agoglia 2018) to higher than Group 3. It would be supported by Group
examine the hypotheses and to predict a specific form of 2 being higher than Group 4, and Group 2 being the
interaction between self-control and task performance highest of them all.
feedback. We utilised the following contrast weights: Table 3 documents the contrast analysis for our
Group 1 (1), Group 2 (3), Group 3 (-1), and Group 4 hypotheses. It shows that our contrast test (F95 = 7.95,
(-3) (Rosnow and Rosenthap 1995; Rosnow, Rosenthal, p = 0.00) was statistically significant. This study’s
and Rubin 2000). Our hypotheses predicted that – in a findings provide support for all our hypotheses. They
condition of technostress – the ICT users’ task perform- suggest that – in a condition of technostress – when
ance by those with low self-control would be lower than low self-control ICT users minimised their task per-
those with greater self-control (H1). Second, ICT users’ formance, getting positive emotions from the positive
task performance will be higher when they have positive task performance feedback mitigated it. Table 4 also
feedback than those who receive negative feedback documents the support for this hypothesis, that the
(H2). Third, positive task performance feedback will task performance of Group 1 was higher than Group 3
boost the positive emotions of the ICT users who and statistically significant at the level of 1%. Likewise,
experienced technostress. This would be reflected in the task performance of Group 2 was more excellent
improved task performance instead of those who than Group 4, which was also statistically significant
received negative feedback (H3). Furthermore, this (p = 0.00).
hypothesis specified that Group 1 would be higher This study result shows that when users interacted
than Group 3. Then, it would be supported by Group with IT, they feel bad (technostress). It is because of
2 being higher than Group 4, and Group 2 would be techno-stressor which are the complexity of IS/IT, the
the highest of them all. work-overload both in numbers and due to deadlines,
Table 3 shows that self-control’s primary effect is and there are the system or technology errors (Tarafdar
statistically significant at a level of 10% (p = 0.062). It et al. 2007; Tarafdar, Tu, and Ragu-Nathan 2010; Riedl
supports the first hypothesis. There was a difference in et al. 2012; Riedl et al. 2013; Ragu-Nathan et al. 2008;
the task performance of ICT users with high self-control Ayyagari, Grover, and Purvis 2011; Sumiyana and Sri-
and low self-control. The task performance of low self- widharmanely 2020). This unstable emotion causes
users to become unfocused or unable to concentrate
on completing their tasks, making many mistakes (Fon-
Table 3. Statistical analysis of hypotheses.
Contrast ANOVA
tana 1989), which, of course, reduces their tasks’ per-
Source df MS F p-value
formance. Self-control provides confidence that users
Group 3 1.726 30.536 0.000
could cope with these pressures and mitigate the unen-
Error 95 0.057 joyment users. In contrast, high self-control has a role in
Hypothesized contrast: overcoming these techno-stressors and restoring users’
The main effect of the df MS F p-value
intersection matric joy when interacting with IT more than the low one.
H3: Group-1 > Group-2; -3; -4 95 1.775 7.948 0.000 Users with low self-control will find it challenging to
The main effect of self- df t-value p-value
control return enjoying interact with IT because of their low
High vs low self-control 97 1.888 0.062 confidence in adapting to IT demands than high self-
H1: Group-1; -2 > Group-3; -4
The main effect of feedback Df t-value p-value control. There is a tendency for low self-control users
Positive vs negative feedback 97 8.564 0.000 to perform dysfunctional behaviour (Gottfredson and
H2: Group-1; -3 > Group-2; -4
Hirschi 1990).
2210 S. SRIWIDHARMANELY ET AL.

This study, therefore, is crucial to overcome this con-
dition and broaden the positive emotions possessed by
ICT users. One action that can be applied is providing
feedback on completing their task (performance). Feed-
back expands the user’s positive emotions and rebuilds
their belief in their capability or self-efficacy (Fredrick-
son 2013b; Reschly et al. 2008) to adapt to IT, increasing
the user’s enjoyment of interacting with IT. Feedback
motivates users to refocus and concentrate on complet-
ing tasks, make fewer errors. Then, being less tendency
to perform dysfunctional actions, of course, their task
performance also improves again. Individuals who
achieve positive conditions, such as enjoyment, will
achieve positive work outcomes (Davies, Stankov, and
Roberts 1998).
4.3. Discussion, research finding and implication
First, this study recalls that technostress harms ICT
users’ performance. In the interaction between ICT
users and the technology, being unsuitable for dealing
with the various technological requirements makes the
users feel uncomfortable; if this continues, it will impact
their performance. To overcome this technostress, an
approach that could be tried is emotion-focused coping
strategies. These strategies focus on trying to reduce the
emotional impact of the tension caused by ICT. The
strategy can come from within the user (inward), the
environment, or the system itself (outward), but all
aim to alleviate the emotional impact of technostress
(Liang et al. 2019). The system’s development task
characteristics require a self-control mechanism because
it is often difficult to formulate specific rules, pro-
cedures, and objectives for the job to be completed.
Self-control gives users confidence in their ability to
control their performance or other users’ work, as well
as the physical condition of the tasks they have to com-
plete (Kirsch and Cummings 1996). This study demon-
strated that emotion-focused coping strategies help
maintain and improve the users’ continued use of
ICT. It considered that human behaviour focusing on
the users’ emotions was the central point controlled
by either ICT managers or developers when they pro-
posed a new information system and applications.
From the perspective of the organisations or system’s
environment, feedback provides a way to eliminate mis-
communication. These systems and applications pro-
vide either positive or negative feedback concerning
performance or understanding of the ICT. The users
themselves could judge and evaluate the correct answers
to the responses. Without feedback, building construc-
tive and purposeful relationships between the users
and the system is difficult or even impossible (Hattie
and Timperley 2007). From the perspective of users’
experiential values (Fan, Hsu, and Lin 2020; Mathwick,
Malhotra, and Rigdon 2001), information feedback
could change their dislike to enjoyment, and from
unpleasant to pleasant experiences, and others. This
study, therefore, concluded that information feedback
is a therapy for the ICT users, in which they entered a
flow state in their cognition. Because the users’ cognitive
needs were fulfilled, they wanted to continue using ICT.
It means that the users improved their self-efficacy and
individual innovativeness because they were sure the
next problem they face when using ICT could be solved.
This study found that self-control affected the user’s
task performance. The specific finding is that ICT users
with high self-control had better task performance than
those with low self-control. Likewise, with information
feedback, it affected the task performance of ICT
users. The second specific finding is that the users
who received positive feedback had a higher perform-
ance level than those who received negative feedback.
In situations where users experienced technology pro-
blems, high self-control could overcome their sense of
insecurity when facing new technology requirements.
It meant that ICT users with high self-control could
maintain their task performance at a high level. What

Table 4. Comparison users’ task performance between groups in technostress situation.

Experiment 95% confidence interval
group Mean difference Std. error Sig. Lower bound Upper bound
1 2 0.08889 0.06471 0.519 −0.0803 0.2581
3 0.44386* 0.07119 0.000 0.2577 0.6300
4 0.53256* 0.06533 0.000 0.3617 0.7034
2 1 −0.08889 0.06471 0.519 −0.2581 0.0803
3 0.35497* 0.07119 0.000 0.1688 0.5411
4 0.44368* 0.06533 0.000 0.2728 0.6145
3 1 −0.44386* 0.07119 0.000 −0.6300 −0.2577
2 −0.35497* 0.07119 0.000 −0.5411 −0.1688
4 0.08870 0.07176 0.606 −0.0989 0.2764
4 1 −0.53256* 0.06533 0.000 −0.7034 −0.3617
2 −0.44368* 0.06533 0.000 −0.6145 −0.2728
3 −0.08870 0.07176 0.606 −0.2764 0.0989
*Significance at <1%.

about the users who experience low self-control? If this
condition continues, they certainly could not keep their
performance levels up because of their tendency for dys-
functional behaviour (Gottfredson and Hirschi 1990).
Based on this study’s results and concerning efforts to
overcome technology’s emotional impact on users
with low self-control, the users’ superiors should help
by providing positive feedback. This positive feedback
could build positive emotions internalised by the users
to reduce their feelings of discomfort. In other words,
the ICT users could be confident that they had adapted
to the new technology (Fredrickson 1998). Atwater and
Brett (2005) found that the leaders expressed more
motivation and had more positive emotions immedi-
ately after receiving multisource feedback. We noted
that the ICT users getting positive feelings improved
their direct reports’ ratings (1 year later). Meanwhile,
those who expressed negative emotions showed a
decline in their direct reports’ ratings. The more motiv-
ated leaders also improved their peer ratings; however,
the leaders’ reactions were unrelated to changes in the
supervisors’ ratings. This study inferred that its findings
are profoundly unique because it demonstrated that
immediate responses to feedback could increase the
ICT users’ transitory mood states, with relevance to
their subsequent behaviour.
The finding of Atwater and Brett’s study supported
this study’s result. When ICT users experience technos-
tress, they react immediately to this feedback and mood
changes, improving their subsequent behaviour if they
receive positive feedback. Thus, this study’s findings
confirm the broaden-and-build theory. This study result
also supported the Liu et al. (2020) study, which demon-
strated the role of happiness in strengthening the ICT
users’ sharing knowledge to develop team performance.
This study also uses the broaden-and-build theory to
investigate how happiness (as an intrinsic driver) and
knowledge sharing (as an extrinsic driver) affect team
performance in the technology industry. Recall the
broaden-and-build theory, this study posited that posi-
tive emotional experiences broaden an individual’s
momentary thought-action repertoires and then serve
to build his/her enduring personal resources, ranging
from his/her physical and intellectual resources to the
social and psychological ones (Fredrickson 1998).
Moreover, this theory suggested that the individual’s
capacity to experience positive emotions could be a fun-
damental individual strength and be central to the study
of an individual’s development. Experiencing pressure
from the system’s complexity or system errors and
work-overload, ICT users’ feel uncomfortable with the
new information system and technology. However,
users with more self-control can mitigate their feelings
BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 2211
directly. They manage their ability to adjust to the
requirements of the latest information systems and
technology. Conversely, ICT users with less self-control
will have difficulty adapting to the needs of the latest
ICT. This research demonstrated that this technostress
requires serious attention from superiors. It meant
that either the top managers or developers must provide
ICT users with positive feedback.
This study re-emphasised that an individual could
apply coping strategies to reduce the emotional impact
of tensions caused by ICT. It also raised a unique
point that a mechanism or component of the control
system for the organisation is needed for the provision
of feedback on task performance. Managers and those
in positions of authority could offer positive feedback
to boost the ICT users’ positive emotions to feel better
about facing and adjusting to a new system. It also
means the users think they have the attention and sup-
port of their superiors. Consequentially, ICT users could
generate positive emotions, which encourage them to
work with the new technology (self-efficacy), making
their performance even better. It shows they have
improved as individuals and are now flourishing.
These explanations relate to the study by Moreira-Fon-
tán et al. (2019), which showed that a positive emotion
mediated the effects of digital self-efficacy on work
engagement. Meanwhile, Basson and Rothmann
(2018) presented the information that students who
flourished were more likely to use adaptive positive
emotional regulation strategies (savouring the moment,
behavioural displays, capitalising). This study also sup-
ported Krenn, Würth, and Hergovich (2013), who
proved that positive feedback had a better impact on
improving performance than negative feedback. By cul-
tivating positive emotions, people can better receive
feedback and criticism (Raghunathan and Trope
1995). Frisch (2000) also noted that individuals who
are happier and more satisfied with their lives tend to
be more resistant to stress, better at problem-solving,
and have higher performance.
The authors summarised the practical implications of
these research findings above. This study’s findings
imply that the ICT users should broaden their thinking
to cultivate positive emotions and provide them with
resources to cope with the techno-stressor or ICT’s
demand. In line with these efforts, the academicians
can help their students’ mentalities prepare them to
face the rapid changes of advanced technology or
broaden and build positive thinking. Through the curri-
culum, they can integrate the value of positive emotion.
Academicians should integrate moral ethics thought at
every subject course to maintain and develop the stu-
dent belief or positively cognitive state and to deal
2212 S. SRIWIDHARMANELY ET AL.
with ethical issues and social transformation, besides
considering cloud computing, big data, data analysis,
the internet of things (Petrenko, Benčič, and Koroleva
2019; Cagle 2020). The curriculum should be dynamic
and facilitate the students’ creativity. The Faculty or
department should create regular training or practices
to develop student self-control performance as profit
business organisations did.
Bakker and Demerouti (2008) noted that the
broaden-and-build theory provides a practical frame-
work to understand individuals’ generative behaviours
in the workplace. We recommend that an organisation
broaden the users’ creativity through management car-
riers to build more innovations to deal with ICTs’
demand, whether they have a transform or confront
personality. In point of the feedback, a new psychologi-
cal intervention for managing employee performance:
feedforward interview (FFI). This study posits Bud-
worth, Harrison, and Chummar (2019), implying the
creation of personal and relational resources and
exploring the contextual and environmental limits to
the technique’s effectiveness. We acknowledged that
FFI is an effective tool for improving employees’ devel-
opment within organisations, but it is essential to know
that FFI alone is insufficient. This technique should be
accompanied by a broader network of developmental
activities within organisations. The organisation can
also perform maintenance or improved ICT users’
self-control performance by regularly training small
actions (Muraven 2010).
5. Conclusion, limitation and future research
This study investigates the role of positive feedback in
mitigating the harmful effects of technostress on users’
performance. It explores user behaviours with low
self-control on information and communications tech-
nology (ICT) with experimental design. In this investi-
gation, we induced the broaden-and-build theory
simultaneously. It examined the role of control aspects
in the mandatory use of information system application.
This study posits that positive feedback can boost the
positive emotions of low self-control ICT users when
they suffer from technostress, while negative feedback
does not. This study supports the idea that the
broaden-and-build theory plays a role in mitigating
the negative impacts of technostress on ICT users’ per-
formance. This study finds that users with positive feed-
back have a higher performance than those who get
negative feedback. It implies that individual positive
feedback supports this study’s result, in that the users’
positive emotions play a primary role in their work per-
formance. Therefore, users could adapt to changes in
advanced and sophisticated information technology. It
also triggered the users to utilise the high work-over-
load, time deadlines and system’s complexity, as
required by the organisation. Still, they could do this
because they had stabilised their performance.
This research recognises that there are several limit-
ations. First, in the context of this study, the mandatory
system is not specified in terms of it belonging to a pub-
lic or private organisation, i.e. a firm, the government or
a university’s system. It means that the information sys-
tems did not directly imply what they did. Second, we
assigned the task which focused only on the structure
and routine needed to complete it. A future study can
extend this to unstructured and non-routine tasks.
Third, this study exclusively focused on positive
emotions, not negative ones. Both positive and negative
emotions significantly impact how individuals flourish
and survive, particularly in a system, but previous
studies had only focused on negative ones. Future
research can investigate both positive and negative
emotions. Fourth, the experimental program’s design
only captured the task performance through the users’
efficiency in completing the assigned task. Future
studies should extend the experimental program to
measure both duration and efficiency. Furthermore,
there is a chance to analyse each technostress’s relation
to the other ICT users’ outcomes in more detail.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Sumiyana Sumiyana http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1518-
9681
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