Achieving digital mastery in the workplace means going beyond the core digital skills to work productively and collaboratively using the digital workplace. It involves understanding not only the extensive benefits of digital tools, but also the potential pitfalls – such as technostress, digital addiction and fear of missing out – and how to mitigate them. As we increasingly work in the digital workplace, an awareness of how to foster healthy technology habits needs to be at the heart of organisations’ wellbeing agendas. In this session learn about: – The latest research on digital working pitfalls – Approaches to fostering healthy technology habits – How mindfulness can support digital mastery

1. Developing a mindful approach to working digitally
Elizabeth Marsh - Digital Work Research IntraTeam Conference, 27 February 2019
Image licensed from Shutterstock

2. © Digital Work Research 2019
Bio
• 15+ years in the digital workplace & intranet industry as
practitioner, consultant, researcher and writer.
• Director of Research at membership community and
consulting company Digital Workplace Group since
2007.
• Co-author of ‘The Digital Renaissance of Work:
Delivering digital workplaces fit for the future’,
shortlisted for Management Book of the Year 2015.
• Research paper on digital literacy and digital workplace
adoption published in International Journal of Digital
Literacy & Digital Competence.
• The Digital Workplace Skills Framework and The Digital
Workforce Skills Assessment.
• New adventures in 2019! Postdoctoral study and
mindfulness teaching.
www.linkedin.com/elizabethmarsh
@digitalsanity

3. © Digital Work Research 2019
Session overview
◦ The ‘dark side’ of digital workplace use
◦ Ways of mitigating the ‘dark side’ phenomena
◦ What is mindfulness and its benefits
◦ An experience of mindfulness
◦ Questions & reflections

4. © Digital Work Research 2019
a m a z i n g !
The digital workplace in one word…

5. © Digital Work Research 2019
‘Dark side’ of digital workplace use
Source: Pirkkalainen, H., and Salo, M. (2016) ‘Two decades of the dark side in the information systems basket: Suggesting five areas for future research’. In ECIS 2016: Proceedings of the 24th
European Conference on Information Systems, Tel Aviv, Israel, June 9-11, 2014
Technostress
Information overload
IT anxiety
IT addiction

6. © Digital Work Research 2019
‘Dark side’ of digital workplace use
Information overload
‘too much information is
provided beyond the user’s
needs resulting in perceptions
of being overwhelmed’
Causes? Email influx,
interruptions on IM, overflowing
information repositories
Effects? Negative impacts on
attention, decision-making,
productivity, creativity, well
being and quality of work life.
Centefelli & Schwarz
Source: Cenfetelli, R. T., & Schwarz, A. (2011). Identifying and testing the inhibitors of technology usage intentions. Information systems research, 22(4), 808-823

7. © Digital Work Research 2019
‘Dark side’ of digital workplace use
IT addiction
‘a users’ psychological state of
maladaptive dependency on IT
use that is manifested through
the obsessive-compulsive
pattern of IT-seeking and IT-use
behaviours that take place at
the expense of other important
activities’
Effects? Negative impacts on
work quality and non-work life.
Xu et al.
Causes? Ability to connect 24/7.
Source: Xu, Z., Turel, O., & Yuan, Y. (2012). Online game addiction among adolescents: motivation and prevention factors. European Journal of Information Systems, 21(3), 321-340

8. © Digital Work Research 2019
‘Dark side’ of digital workplace use
IT anxiety
‘the tendency of individuals to
be uneasy, apprehensive, or
fearful about current or future
use of computers’
Effects? Negative impacts on
adoption and use of the digital
workplace – ‘technophobia’.
Igbaria & Parasuraman
Causes? Feelings of worry
apprehension relating to
computer use e.g. fear of making
mistakes, losing data.
Source: Igbaria, M. & Parasuraman, S. (1989). A path analytic study of individual characteristics, computer anxiety and attitudes toward microcomputers. Journal of Management, 15, 373-388

9. © Digital Work Research 2019
‘Dark side’ of digital workplace use
Technostress
‘any negative impact on
attitudes, thoughts, behaviours
or psychology caused directly
or indirectly by technology’
Causes? Speed of changes,
constant connectivity, anxiety
about skills, input overload.
Effects? Fatigue, attentional
issues, frustration, loss of
motivation, lower work
satisfaction and burnout.
Weil & Rosen
Source: Weil, M. M., & Rosen, L. D. (1997). Technostress: Coping with technology@ work@ home@ play (pp. 29-32). New York: Wiley

10. © Digital Work Research 2019
Ways of mitigating ‘dark side’ phenomena
Help people become
skillful at working in the
digital workplace
How we design and
deliver the digital
workplace

11. © Digital Work Research 2019
Ways of mitigating ‘dark side’ phenomena
Help people become
skillful at working in the
digital workplace
How we design and
deliver the digital
workplace
Involvement & support
User experience
Features

12. © Digital Work Research 2019
Ways of mitigating ‘dark side’ phenomena
Help people become
skillful at working in the
digital workplace
How we design and
deliver the digital
workplace
Involvement & support
User experience
Features
Digital literacy & mastery
Mindfulness
Knowledge sharing

13. © Digital Work Research 2019
What is mindfulness?
“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the
present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” Jon Kabat-Zinn (1994)
Source: Kabat-Zinn J. (1994) ‘Wherever you go there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life’. New York, NY: Hyperion

14. © Digital Work Research 2019
What is mindfulness?
“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the
present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” Jon Kabat-Zinn (1994)
Can lead to…
• Substantially reduced workplace stress
• Reduce anxiety and depression
• Improve work-life balance
• Alleviate burnout in the workplace
• Reduce psychological distress of working individuals
• Improve information processing speed, sustained attention and executive functionin
• Reduce physical pain and the emotional reaction to it.
• Improve social functioning by strengthening relationships.
Source: Kabat-Zinn J. (1994) ‘Wherever you go there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life’. New York, NY: Hyperion

15. © Digital Work Research 2019
What is mindfulness?
“A dynamic IT-specific trait, evident when working with IT, whereby the user
focuses on the present, pays attention to detail, exhibits a willingness to
consider other uses, and expresses genuine interest in investigating IT features
and failures.” ~ Jason Bennett Thatcher & colleagues (2018)
Source: Thatcher, J. B., Wright, R. T., Sun, H., Zagenczyk, T. J., & Klein, R. (2018). Mindfulness in Information Technology Use: Definitions, Distinctions, and a New Measure. MIS Quarterly,
42(3), 831-847.

16. © Digital Work Research 2019
What is mindfulness?
Source: Thatcher, J. B., Wright, R. T., Sun, H., Zagenczyk, T. J., & Klein, R. (2018). Mindfulness in Information Technology Use: Definitions, Distinctions, and a New Measure. MIS Quarterly,
42(3), 831-847.
Can lead to…
• Better adoption of new technology
• More effective use
• Reduced technostress
“A dynamic IT-specific trait, evident when working with IT, whereby the user
focuses on the present, pays attention to detail, exhibits a willingness to
consider other uses, and expresses genuine interest in investigating IT features
and failures.” ~ Jason Bennett Thatcher & colleagues (2018)

17. © Digital Work Research 2019
An experience of mindfulness

18. © Digital Work Research 2019
Questions and reflections
?

19. Image licensed from Shutterstock
Developing a mindful approach to working digitally
Elizabeth Marsh - Digital Work Research IntraTeam Conference, 27 February 2019
/elizabethmarsh
@digitalsanity