The ICT demands index included in the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH)

Purpose: Technostress operationalised as ICT demands is measured by the ICT demands index in the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH). This index is mainly based on findings in a qualitative Swedish study, published in 2003.

Methods: The index consists of six items, accompanied by five response options rated on a Likert scale. The index is introduced by: ‘New technology and flexible working conditions have changed the working life of many people. Technology can be a great help but can also lead to new kinds of stress. Estimate the extent to which you are stressed by…’. Then follows the items, such as ‘…too many calls and emails’, ‘…demands to give immediate answers to emails and telephone calls that require a lot of work’ and ‘…computers and other digital device that fails to work properly’.

Results: ICT demands have been observed to be correlated with the demands- and effort dimension in the demand control- and the effort-reward imbalance models, respectively. ICT demands have also been associated with cognitive complaints and suboptimal self-rated health, in cross-sectional- and prospective analyses. However, the ICT demands index in SLOSH have also some limitations. The index does not have a resource dimesion (such as ‘technostress inhibitors’ or ‘ICT resources’) and can thus not be considered a complete measure of technostress. Additionally, the ICT demands index only reflect a smaller part of technostress and does not reflect aspects such as insecurity and uncertainty related to ICT, lack of digital literacy, and ineffective communication. The items might also be somewhat outdated since new ICT demands might have occurred since 2003, such as ICT demands related to new types of digital communication and use of RPA and AI.

Conclusions: It is warranted to use updated measures of technostress that reflects both ICT demands and resources

Publication History

Article published online:
02 September 2021