When Technology Overwhelms: Technostress as a Predictor of Employee Silence under Conditions of Organizational Justice — A Pilot Study

Abstract

The widespread use of information and communication technology (ICT) has unintentionally promoted technostress as businesses strive for digital maturity, leading to unproductive workplace behaviors. This pilot study investigated whether perceived organizational justice mitigates the negative association between employee silence and multidimensional technostress, encompassing psychological strain, lethargy, and physiological strain, drawing on Social Exchange Theory. Data were gathered from a small sample of 26 workers at an international agricultural research facility in Nigeria using a cross-sectional survey approach. The key constructs were measured using validated instruments, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to assess the hypotheses. The results showed that employee silence was significantly and positively predicted by technostress (p < .01), suggesting that technology overwhelm may be a meaningful antecedent of communicative disengagement. Organizational justice did not significantly attenuate the association between technostress and employee silence (p = .580), although it showed a significant negative main effect on silence. These preliminary findings suggest that overall organizational fairness may not be sufficient to offset the depleting physiological and behavioral pressures of technostress. However, this null moderation result should be interpreted cautiously, given the limited statistical power of the sample. The findings point to customized digital hygiene practices and ergonomic interventions as a plausible avenue for restoring employee voice in the modern workplace. Still, given the small sample size, these results are preliminary and require confirmation in a larger, adequately powered study before firm practical conclusions can be drawn.