Working 9 to always: relationships among workplace telepressure, ICT boundary creation, and workaholism

Information and communication technology (ICT) in the work environment continues to change the landscape of the workplace. This technology allows employees to have greater flexibility when accessing information and communicating with those not physically present. The goal of the current study was to investigate the relationships between workplace telepressure, workaholism, and ICT boundary creation. The moderating role of ICT boundary creation in the relationship between workaholism and workplace telepressure was also examined.

The sample consisted of 317 full-time faculty and staff at a large Southeastern university. Participants were recruited through an email distribution service, LISTSERV, that contains potential respondents' university email addresses. Prior to starting the Qualtrics survey, participants were shown an informed consent form indicating that their participation is voluntary, and responses will be confidential and anonymous. When they completed the form, respondents were evaluated on measures of workplace telepressure, workaholism, and ICT boundary creation.

Workplace telepressure was positively related to workaholism (and its subscales) and negatively related to ICT boundary creation. Furthermore, workaholism was negatively related to ICT boundary creation. Additionally, both workaholism and ICT boundary creation had significant partial effects for predicting workplace telepressure.

As ICTs become more popular in the workforce, organizations must be aware of how the additional ease of access that ICTs provide affects employees. Setting ICT boundaries serves as a way to reduce the negative influence that workaholism and workplace telepressure have on workers.