Investigation of the relationships between mental workload, technostress and occupational burnout levels of faculty members

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between the technostress factors that faculty members are exposed to, their perceived mental workload and their occupational burnout. The design of this study, which adopts a quantitative research approach, is a correlational research that examines the relationship between the variables within the scope of the research. The research data was collected from faculty members working at two state universities. Personal Information Form prepared within the scope of the research, Technostress Scale, CarMen-Q Mental Workload Scale and Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey were used to collect data. Data analysis was carried out on the data set obtained from 368 faculty members who participated in the research. In the analysis of the data obtained, Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to calculate the relationships between the variables. The mediating role of perceived mental workload in the relationship between technostress factors and occupational burnout was analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM). Additionally, bootstrap analysis was conducted to determine the significance of the mediation effect. In determining the change of variables according to demographic characteristics, t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), which are parametric tests, were used. As a result of the research, it was seen that perceived mental workload had a mediating role in the relationship between technostress factors and occupational burnout. It has been determined that technostress factors have a positive and significant effect on the professional burnout of faculty members. Similarly, technostress factors were found to positively and significantly affect faculty members' mental workload perceptions. It was concluded that faculty members' mental workload perceptions also positively and significantly affected their occupational burnout. It was determined that the occupational burnout of female participants was significantly higher than male participants. It was observed that technostress factors and mental workload scores did not create a significant difference according to gender. According to age groups, technostress factor scores in participants over 51 were higher than those in the 31-40 age group. It has been observed that faculty members' occupational burnout scores decrease with age. No significant difference was detected between mental workload scores and age variable. The analysis made according to the year of professional seniority determined that the technostress factors scores differed according to the variable of the year of professional seniority. While perceived mental workload does not differ significantly according to professional seniority year, it was found that the occupational burnout scores of the participants in the 21 and above professional seniority year group were lower than all lower professional seniority year groups. Technostress factors and mental workload scores of faculty members working in administrative positions were significantly higher. It was determined that their occupational burnout was significantly lower than those not in administrative duties. The analysis made according to the class variable found that the mental workload perception of research assistants was significantly higher than that of faculty members, and their occupational burnout was significantly higher than that of faculty members. This research on faculty members concluded that perceived mental workload has a mediating role in the relationship between technostress factors and occupational burnout. In addition, it was determined that the technostress factors, mental workload and occupational burnout scores of faculty members differed according to various demographic features.