Exploratory Factor Analysis of Technostress among University Students

Abstract

Research on technostress has been extensively conducted in various fields. However, research on technostress is still lacking in the context of university online learning, specifically in Malaysian public universities.  This study aims to develop a technostress-related instrument that suits the context of university students. This study has adopted and adapted the instrument of technostress from the previous researchers and validated the construct using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). A cross-sectional study was conducted on 338 undergraduate students in all UiTM branches in East Malaysia, using a simple random sampling method. A structured survey was used to gather the necessary information. The final analysis found that no items were omitted. Based on EFA, this study finalised the instrument to twenty-two (22) items yielding only four dimensions, i.e., techno-overload (9 items), techno-complexity (6 items), techno-insecurity (4 items), and techno-uncertainty (3 items). The high-reliability standards shown in Cronbach’s alpha for each component explain that the proposed instrument is reliable and suitable for measuring technostress constructs. The results have statistically proven that these items have a high level of validity and reliability and can be used to measure technostress among university students. This instrument developed in this study can be considered for future research to measure technostress in the context of university students as a better alternative than using existing instruments used on employees in ICT organisations.