From Digital Transformation to Perceived Stress: The Mediating Role of Technostress among University Students in Pakistan

Abstract

Objective: With the onset of the digital era, higher education institutions can observe both some benefits and negative outcomes concerning the impacts on students resulting in technostress. Hence, this research aimed to examine the mediation role of technostress between digital transformation and perceived stress in university students.

Method: For the study of the hypothesis, 300 students were selected as respondents from University of Gujrat in Pakistan in a quantitative cross sectional design study. Data collection was carried out by using the point measures of digital transformation (Pettersson et al., 2024), technostress (Wang et al., 2020), and perceived stress (Cohen et al., 1983).

Results: The results of the research indicated that there was positive influence of digital transformation on technostress (B = .4153, p < .001) and perceived stress (B = .2353, p < .001). Moreover, technostress had a significant influence on the level of perceived stress (B = .2270, p = .0054). The indirect effect of digital transformation on perceived stress via technostress was found to be significant (B = .0943, 95% CI [.0239, .1556]), showing that partial mediation existed. This model achieved in the research was able to explain the variability of the level of stress of 39.64%.

Conclusion: Results revealed that the moderating effect of technostress is present between digital transformation and perceived stress of the Pakistani university students. Based on the conclusion, it is stated that technostress must be addressed in order to help students stay well during the digital transformation of education through institutional assistance, digital literacy training, and policies that focus on their needs and interests.