Might insecurity and use of ICT enhance internet addiction and exhaust people? A study in two European countries during emergency remote working.

Facing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, we have witnessed a strong recourse to generalised lockdowns and to the deployment of remote working. These emergency measures have also thrown employers and employees into uncertainty regarding the present and future existence of their job. The present study aimed to examine the role of job insecurity and job demands in non-working hours through technologies on emotional exhaustion mediated by Internet addiction. A total of 999 remote workers, 501 of whom live in France and 498 in Italy, completed a self-report questionnaire during the first lockdown. Results suggest that both job insecurity and the requests to use technology for work purposes during non-work time exacerbate emotional exhaustion through the mediation of Internet Addiction. Limitations, future perspectives, and implications for management are discussed.

Identifying Work-Related Internet's Uses-at Work and Outside Usual Workplaces and Hours-and Their Relationships With Work-Home Interface, Work Engagement, and Problematic Internet Behavior.

Many studies have analyzed the uses of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for work, with some focusing on use at the office and others on use outside the traditional workplace and workday. However, there is little research encompassing all work uses of ICTs, both in and out of the office, and on the ways in which they affect employees' attitudes toward their work and quality of life. Thus, the present study aims to (a) explore the links between intensity, places, and time periods of using the Internet for work; (b) examine whether Internet uses for work are related to the perceived impact of work on personal life, work engagement, and Internet addiction. An empirical study was conducted based on a questionnaire survey of 502 executives. We measured their use of the Internet for business purposes both in and outside of the standard workday/workplace; the perceived impact of work on their personal life; their work engagement; and their relationship to the Internet. Four categories of Internet use for work were identified (Cluster analysis). They differed with respect to intensity, places, and time periods dedicated to Internet uses (at standard workplace, at home, while traveling; during a typical workday, a day off, or vacation). The results obtained from Multinomial Logistic Regression show that technological devices provided by the employer and personal uses of the Internet are related to the intensity, places, and time periods of executives' work-related Internet uses. Furthermore, ANCOVAs reveal that high-intensive, extensive, and porous Internet uses for work appear to foster the permeability between work and personal life, diminish managers' dedication and vigor at work, and favor Internet addiction. Based on these findings, we discuss the importance of the "right to disconnect" and prevention programs regarding Internet uses, two major issues that attract the attention of organizations as well as public health authorities.

Psychological transition and adjustment processes related to retirement: influence on cognitive functioning.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between psychological transition and adjustment to retirement and cognitive performances in older adults. METHODS: The study's sample was taken from the Approche Multidisciplinaire Intégrée cohort, a French prospective study of retirees from agriculture, aged 65 and over, living in rural settings in southwestern France. The cross-sectional analyses were conducted on a sample of 590 elderly people without dementia at baseline and for whom information on perception of the work setting, experience of the retirement transition and adaptation to retirement life (nine variables) as well as neuropsychological measures (global cognitive functioning, episodic memory, verbal fluency, attention and psychomotor speed) were available at first visit. RESULTS: Multivariable linear regression analyses, including nine variables related to retirement and adjusted for potential confounding factors, indicated that three of them - positive consideration of former work situation, development of new activities during retirement and good adaptation to free time - were associated with better cognitive performances. CONCLUSIONS: We found that several factors proved to be determinants of good cognitive functioning at retirement and could serve as a basis for the development of more efficient intervention programs aimed at helping retirees to maintain good cognitive functioning after retirement.