Tecnoestresse em servidores públicos de instituições federais de ensino durante a pandemia da covid-19: antecedentes, consequentes e implicações regionais

Abstract

Context: Along with the development and intensification of the use of Information and Communication Technologies – ICTs in recent decades, the way human beings interact in the social context has changed. In this sense, the use of ICTs was more present in people's routine, especially after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought the need to work remotely as a way of protecting against the virus. Although there are benefits, the exaggerated use of ICTs can bring behavioral changes and effects on people's health, such as technostress. Objective: This thesis aims to analyze the antecedents and consequences of technostress in public service workers at Federal Educational Institutions - IFEs during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Method: Data collection was carried out through an online questionnaire applied to public service workers in Brazil. The sample comprised 691 employees, of which 371 were teachers and 320 administrative technicians. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and, in the next stage, they were analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling to test hypotheses. Finally, a multigroup analysis was carried out to analyze the moderating effect of the publice service workers career type. Results: The results show a negative effect of personal innovativeness and organizational support on techno-stressors levels (techno-invasion, techno-overload and techno-complexity), in addition to a positive effect of these techno-stressors on exhaustion and sleep disorders. Exhaustion and sleep disorders, in turn, have a negative effect on work performance. The multigroup analysis identified a moderating effect of the public service workers’ career on all relationships, with the exception of the relationship between techno-overload and sleep disorders. Furthermore, technostress levels were higher in teachers than in administrative technicians, as techno-overload and techno-invasion being the variables with the greatest differences between the groups. Exhaustion was slightly higher in the teaching group, while sleep disorders did not show significant differences between the groups. The perception regarding personal innovativeness, organizational support and work performance was higher in the group of administrative technicians. Alignment of research with the concentration area of the PPGAdm: The research results show how remote work during the pandemic period impacted the quality of life of IFE employees. Furthermore, the research presents contributions of a regional nature, by including the implications of the results for managers at the Federal University of Uberlândia – UFU and other IFEs in Uberlândia and region. The research is, therefore, aligned both with the program's area of concentration and with the line of Society, Development and Regionality. Impact and innovative character in intellectual production: In this research, the theoretical gaps identified were explored in an unprecedented context by addressing a pandemic situation and collecting data from education professionals who, for the most part, had never worked remotely. Economic, social, and regional impact: Regarding economic impacts, the research results allow us to expand the discussion on remote work in the public service. From a social perspective, the collective relevance of the topic is highlighted, given that people management and quality of life at work represent key elements for achieving the objectives of any organization, which in the case of IFEs translate into better quality of work. education and public service provided to the population. At the regional level, it is worth highlighting that the sample of this research is mainly composed of employees from the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU) and other IFEs in Triângulo Mineiro, Alto Paranaíba, South of Goiás and East of Mato Grosso do Sul. Thus, this research presents contributions especially for managers and employees of IFEs in these regions, by providing relevant information for decision-making processes related to remote work and the adoption of new technologies. Regional implications: It is understood that the results of this research have regional implications. For example: organizational support proved to be a factor that can mitigate levels of technostress, especially among administrative technicians. Thus, considering the results of this study, managers of IFEs in Triângulo Mineiro, Alto Paranaíba, South of Goiás and East of Mato Grosso do Sul can encourage or even expand initiatives in this sense, bearing in mind that unlike the personal innovativeness that represents a individual attribute, organizational support is a resource that organizations can use in the context of people management.