Trial-Period Technostress: A Conceptual Definition and Mixed-Methods Investigation

This study employs a mixed-methods approach to examine how trial use of an IT can induce stress that leads individuals to reject the IT. In our qualitative study (Study 1), we identify eight technostress creators encountered during trial use of a specific IT. Then, in our quantitative study (Study 2), we show that these trial-period technostress creators reduce user satisfaction and increase intention to reject. Also, we demonstrate that motivation to learn and personal innovativeness in IT, two individual differences, moderate the influence of trial-period technostress creators on the intention to reject. Our mixed-methods study contributes to technostress research by identifying the specific technostress creators that influence the user during trial periods and by articulating the nature of this influence. By doing so, we illustrate how the interplay of the context- and domain-specific individual differences influence the relationship between technostress creators and the intention to reject. We extend adoption research by connecting technostress creators to rejection of IT in the trial period of IT use.