Does the proactive personality mitigate the adverse effect of technostress on productivity in the mobile environment?

•This study extends existing technostress theory.•Techno-overload was more of an “enhancer” to one’s productivity.•Communication overload lowered one’s level of productivity.•Communication overload on productivity was lessened by the ability to confront situations.

Reliance on mobile phones as the major communication medium in our lives has become pervasive in recent years. This study extends existing technostress theory by looking at the effect of two stress sources (techno-overload and communication overload) and the accessibility on productivity of mobile phone users. Two dimensions of the proactive personality were part of the extension to examine how such a personality mitigates the effect on stress. The results show that techno-overload was more of an “enhancer” to one’s productivity, rather than what was found in some other studies. Communication overload lowered one’s level of productivity, but its effect was lessened by the presence of one form of the proactive personality – the ability to confront situations. Managerial implications relating to these findings are provided.