Risk factors for digital stress in German public administrations

Bibliographic Data

ID15375722
AuthorsSammy Joelle Shirley Wrede, Dominique Rodil dos Anjos (0000-0001-8722-4549, Witten/Herdecke University), Jan Patrick Kettschau, Horst Christoph Broding (Witten/Herdecke University), Kevin Claaßen (0000-0002-5375-2869, Witten/Herdecke University)
Year2021
Volume21
Issue1
Publication date2021-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBMC Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1471-2458 • E-ISSN: 1471-2458
PublisherBioMed Central (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1186/s12889-021-12247-w
OpenAlexW4226100477
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited33

Objective As the digitization of the working world progresses, the demands on employees change. Not least, this is true for the setting of public administrations in Germany, which is currently affected by the transformation to E-Government. This study aims to identify and describe a risk cluster of digitally stressed employees in public administrations. Methods An online sample of 710 employees from three public administrations in North Rhine-Westphalia were surveyed about digital stress (7 items) and several potential risk factors (19 items) derived from the current research. In the first step, a hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis is used to detect the risk cluster. This is followed by a comparison to the group of the remaining employees regarding their risk profiles. Results The analysis states that the digitally stressed cluster accounts for approximately ten percent of the public administration’s employees of the total sample. Employees in the risk cluster are less satisfied with on-site work overall, experience less collegial support on-site, experience less collegial support in the home office, resign more often, are more likely to feel overwhelmed, are less educated, are older in age and more often have relatives in need of care. Conclusion This work was able to identify and describe a group of digitally stressed rather than left-behind employees in public administrations to bring awareness to potentially destructive factors in the digital transformation process but eventually to social inequalities. The findings offer the basis for interventions to arise and evoke potential for further research

Biostatistics · Cluster (spacecraft · Environmental health · Government (linguistics · Political science · Psychological intervention · Public health · Public relations · Sample (material · Work (physics · Engineering · Innovation, Technology, and Society · Medicine · Nursing · Technostress in Professional Settings · Workplace Health and Well-being

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