Technostress and exhaustion as threats to work engagement, examining the protective role of technology self-efficacy.

ORIENTATION: The digitization of the banking industry has intensified employees' exposure to technology related work demands, heightening the risk of technostress and exhaustion. The study investigates the relationship between technostress and exhaustion examining the moderating and mediating role of technology self-efficacy in sustaining work engagement within the banking industry. RESEARCH PURPOSE: This study seeks to understand whether technology self-efficacy can be seen as a protective personal resource that may buffer the effects of technostress and exhaustion and sustain work engagement. MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY: Integration of technology has increased employees' exposure to technostress and exhaustion, posing threats to work engagement. Therefore, the study examines the protective role of personal resources in mitigating the negative effects of technostress and exhaustion on work engagement to maintain productivity in digital environments. RESEARCH APPROACH/DESIGN AND METHOD: Adopting a positivistic paradigm, this quantitative, cross-sectional research collected data from 202 banking employees via Qualtrics. Data were analyzed using the variance based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) specifically SmartPLS. MAIN FINDINGS: The findings confirms that technostress simultaneously increases exhaustion and reduces work engagement indicating the dual role as both a strain inducing demand and a motivational inhibitor. Technology self-efficacy and exhaustion partially mediate the relationship between technostress and work engagement. Though technology self-efficacy supports work engagement, it does not prevent exhaustion, thus it cannot fully offset fatigue under high technology demands. PRACTICAL/MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS AND CONTRIBUTION/VALUE-ADD: Banks should prioritize digital skills development alongside workload and wellbeing interventions. Sustaining work engagement in modern environments requires a combined approach of reducing techno stressors, promoting employees' digital capabilities while strengthening employee recovery to prevent exhaustion and disengagement.