Resource loss from technology overload and its impact on work-family conflict: Can leaders help?

With the ever increasing usage of information and communication technology, it is no surprise that technology end-users are experiencing technology overload. Although this technology overload has been shown to have a negative impact on work related outcomes, much less is known about how it is associated with work-family conflict (WFC). This study set out to answer that question by building on Conservation of Resources theory and examining three types of technology overload (information overload, communication overload, and system feature overload) and their relationships with WFC. Additionally, we investigated leader-member exchange quality to see how it impacts the relationships between each type of technology overload and WFC. We examined these relationships in a sample of 219 technology end-users, and our results indicated that all three types of technology overload are associated with WFC. Further, for two types of technology overload, the lower the quality of leader-member exchange relationships, the greater the impact of technology overload on WFC.