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Designing away technostress : Digital interface nudges, cognitive effort, and digital mindset in complex decision environments
Valta, Maximilian; Maier, Christian; Hildebrandt, Yannick (2026): Designing away technostress : Digital interface nudges, cognitive effort, and digital mindset in complex decision environments, in: Information & management : the international journal of information systems applications, Amsterdam [u.a.]: Elsevier Science, Jg. 63, Nr. 8, 104421, S. 1–16, doi: 10.1016/j.im.2026.104421.
Author:
Title of the Journal:
Information & management : the international journal of information systems applications
ISSN:
1872-7530
0378-7206
Publisher Information:
Year of publication:
2026
Volume:
63
Issue:
8, 104421
Pages:
Language:
English
Abstract:
Complex digital decision tasks can become obstructive when interface design requires users to interpret, retrieve, and compare dispersed information under ambiguity. Although technostress research recognizes information system (IS) design as a potential mitigation lever, it remains underspecified how concrete interface-level mechanisms shape users’ stress appraisals during interaction without removing objective task complexity. We theorize digital interface nudges, which are choice architecture based interface elements that structure options and guide attention without restricting choice, as a focused IS design lever that can reduce perceived cognitive effort during decision making and in turn lower perceived hindrance technostressors. We test this argument in an online experiment in which participants complete a complex car-booking task under either a default setting digital interface nudge, a salience-framing digital interface nudge, or a control interface. Both digital interface nudges reduce perceived hindrance technostressors relative to the control, and these reductions are stronger for individuals with a higher digital mindset. The study contributes to technostress research by showing how minimal choice architecture based interface interventions can shape how users appraise complexity in structured decision interfaces without removing objective complexity from the task itself. It also extends digital nudging research from behavioral choice outcomes to stress-related perceptual outcomes and identifies digital mindset as an initial user-level scope condition that shapes the effectiveness of interface structuring.
Keywords: ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ; 
Technostress
Digital nudging
Interface design
Cognitive effort
Digital mindset
Choice architecture
Online experiment
User experience
Well-being
Digital work
Decision systems
Type:
Article
Activation date:
September 17, 2026
Project(s):
Versioning
Question on publication
Permalink
https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/117241