Techno-overload and well-being of French small business owners: identifying the flipside of digital technologies

Technostress is an important by-product of information and communication technologies (ICT). The technostress literature suggests focusing on specific dimensions of technostress, such as techno-overload, which describes when ICT usage demands to work faster and longer. However, only a few studies have dealt with the technostress of small business owners, let alone techno-overload. This is surprising since work overload in general has been identified as an important dimension of job stress for small business owners, and technostress has been identified as an important impediment for workers in general. The aim of the current study is to investigate the effect of techno-overload on well-being outcomes (as a composite measure consisting of physical well-being, mental well-being, sleep quality, burnout, and loneliness) using three data sets of French small business owners. Our results indicate a strong negative correlation between techno-overload and our composite measure of well-being for all three data sets. We interpret our findings for several different disciplines: information systems, small business owners and entrepreneurship, health and well-being, psychology and organization studies. Our data also allow for the identification of contextual effects - the COVID-19 pandemic - since one survey was conducted before, one at the start of, and one during the pandemic.

Automated summary

Technostress is a significant issue caused by information and communication technologies. This study examines the impact of techno-overload on the well-being of small business owners, using data sets from French entrepreneurs. The results show a strong negative correlation between techno-overload and well-being, as measured by various indicators such as physical and mental well-being, sleep quality, burnout, and loneliness. The study also considers contextual effects, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, through surveys conducted at different stages.