Author ORCID Identifier
Carolin Jung: 0009-0005-9979-6196
Manfred Schoch: 0000-0002-4963-9257
Abstract
Appraisal influences whether information system (IS) demands lead to positive or negative psychological and behavioral outcomes. While prior research highlights the potential of achievement-signaling gamification elements (AGEs) to foster the bright side of technostress, little is known about how AGEs shape users’ technostress appraisal over time. Drawing on transactional stress theory, this study examines how AGEs affect challenge, threat, and control appraisals of IS demands over time. We conducted an online experiment with 158 participants, simulating an IS demand in a digital work environment. Appraisal was measured repeatedly and analyzed using multivariate latent growth modeling. We expand our analysis with qualitative data to dissect the mechanisms through which AGEs influence appraisal. Our results show that AGEs significantly shape the early appraisal of IS demands by increasing challenge and control appraisal and reducing threat appraisal. Over time, these favorable differences persist, while qualitative findings suggest that repeated achievement signals help confirm and maintain earlier appraisals. We find that performance and progress signals anchor users’ early interpretations of IS demands and help maintain these appraisals over time. The study contributes to technostress and gamification research by showing that appraisal is a design-sensitive process that AGEs can shape.
Recommended Citation
Jung, C., & Schoch, M. (In press). The Influence of Achievement-Signaling Gamification Elements on Technostress Appraisal Over Time: A Mixed-Methods Study. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 59, pp-pp. Retrieved from https://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/vol59/iss1/74
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