Impact of Enhanced Resources on Anticipatory Stress and Adjustment to New Information Technology: A Field-Experimental Test of Conservation of Resources Theory

An intervention based on conservation of resources theory was conducted in an organization installing new information technology (IT) to enhance participants' psychological resources and thereby reduce anticipated stress and facilitate adjustment to the new IT. Before installation, 218 IT users in 25 units participated in 5 days of technical training; only the randomly assigned experimental group also participated in a "resource workshop." All participants filled out questionnaires before the workshop, 2 weeks later, and 2 months after the IT installation. ANOVA detected a significant increase in users' means efficacy in the experimental group and a decline in the control group. The new IT caused the control users more dissatisfaction and exhaustion, whereas the experimental users were spared these increases in strain, as predicted. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.