Technostress: A catalyst to leave the teaching profession - A survey designed to measure technostress among teachers in Pakistan during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The world has changed drastically in terms of telecommunication, running online businesses and daily life activities to keep social distancing and to perform the regular everyday tasks since the pandemic COVID-19. Governments have several times declared smart, partial or full lockdowns to deal with the health crisis situation, that has impacted the social activities, gatherings and has impacted the functionality of several professions, including education that are directly or indirectly impacted by the lockdowns. In the education environment the students in large numbers are expected to gather for lectures, labs and meet folks from industry and/or other sectors. The lockdown required the teachers to come up with alternative to meeting in person to online meetings and adapting to online-synchronous and asynchronous teaching styles. To meet the targets set for an academic year, a distinctive rise in e-learning has been observed where teaching and learning is undertaken remotely using digital platforms. This study aims to reveal the impact of computer-assisted teaching on the development of technostress among Pakistani teachers during the pandemic COVID-19. In addition, the role of teachers’ self-efficacy is evaluated and motivation to leave the teaching profession is investigated in the coming endemic climate. The researchers have opted to a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional survey to generalize the statistically obtained results and test hypotheses. A total of 242 teachers at different levels of education voluntarily participated in the research during the lockdown from March to April 2020, where all regular educational activities were suspended and online classes were introduced as an alternative way to meet educational goals. The findings revealed that Learning Teaching Process Oriented and Technical Issues Oriented are the main contributing factors towards the development of technology stress and motivation to leave the teaching profession. Moreover, teachers' perception of self-efficacy in using computers is negatively associated with technology stress. It is recommended that computer-based instructional coaching be designed for teachers prior to engaging them in digitally oriented online courses to improve their self-efficacy in using computers and to promote a well-developed digital infrastructure to avoid the development of technology stress and discouragement for tutelage.