Why do workers feel “tied” to their mobile devices? And is this a bad thing?
In an iLEAD-funded study that was conducted in 2013 at a multispecialty group practice and healthcare provider of a large Midwestern teaching hospital, Drs. Jenny Hoobler (UIC) and Wendy Casper (University of Texas at Arlington), and Morgan Wilson (Mount St. Mary’s University), discovered that workers with
- Strong relational identities (“My close relationships are an important reflection of who I am”)
- A higher drive to manage their impression with others (“Stay at work late so people know I am hard working”)
- Higher levels of conscientiousness (“efficient; organized”)
Were the ones who felt the most psychologically and physically dependent on their mobile communication devices.
Other Findings: Heading link
The more responsive workers were to smartphone interruptions from work while not working, the more they reported
- Higher job stress
- Greater work‐to-family conflict (the job interfering with their personal life), which decreased their career satisfaction; and the more their family members reported
- Work-to-family conflict. Which employees were the most likely to respond to a smartphone interruption from work while not at work?
- Workers with the highest workloads
- Those with the strongest work identities (“I invest a large part of myself in my work”).