| Sumario: | Problem: Technology is widely used in nursing academia, but little is known about the effects of technostress on technology acceptance among nurse educators. Purpose: This study examined the effects of nurse faculty technostress, perceived usefulness, ease of use, and attitude toward using technology on use, job satisfaction, and intent to leave teaching. Method: A survey design of 1,017 online nursing faculty tested the Davis' Technology Acceptance Model adapted with permission to include the variables of technostress, job satisfaction, and intent to leave teaching. Hierarchical regression was used to test the model. Results: Technostress, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude toward using, and behavioral intention to use technology explained 80% (R2) of technology use. Technostress, perceived usefulness, attitude toward using, and use of technology explained 9.8% of the variance in job satisfaction although neither ease of use or behavioral intent made significant contributions to job satisfaction. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, use of technology, and job satisfaction explained 4.2% of the variance in intent to stay in the profession. Nursing faculty prepare nurses to work in complex, technological environments (Axley 2008). This creates an urgency to integrate new clinical technology into curricula quickly (VanVooren, Devore, & Ambriz-Galaviz, 2011). Faculty are also expected to use technology in teaching to stimulate and facilitate learning. Pressure for faculty to teach traditional courses in non-traditional ways has increased in response to student demand (Axley, 2008). In 2011, 6.7 million US students, or 32% of the total student population, enrolled in at least one online course (Allen & Seaman, 2011). Substantial enrollment increases in baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral degree programs are attributed to the availability of electronic learning (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2011). Thus, increasing enrollments, diverse teaching methods, and rapidly changing technology have outpaced awareness of the factors influencing technology acceptance and use. While many nurse educators use strategies, like electronic learning and simulation, further use of technology is anticipated (Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, & Day, 2010; Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2010) so understanding the impacts of burgeoning technology on nursing faculty is needed. Technology and its integration can create stress, called technostress, which affects the attitudes and use of technology. Jena and Mahanti (2014) explained that faculty experience technostress when they are unable to adapt and use technology in a healthy manner. Faculty often feel compelled to check work email and online discussion boards while also feeling the need to engage and work quickly. The resulting stress may undermine job satisfaction and result in faculty leaving academia (Khan, Rehman, & Rehman, 2013). It is important to recognize the effects of technostress on nursing faculty and manage it effectively to improve both the quality of work life and retention. This study was designed to increase our understanding of technology use and technostress among nurse educators in the United States. During the last decade, a call for action has been issued for increased educational quality and requirements for nurses (Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, & Day, 2010; IOM, 2010). The recommendations represent a significant responsibility and task for nursing education. Aging faculty, budget constraints, faculty shortages, and increasing job competition from clinical practice contribute to the problems experienced by nursing faculty (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2015a). The average age of nurse faculty continues to climb, narrowing the number of productive years that nurse educators are available to teach. The average ages of doctoral and master's prepared nurse faculty holding the ranks of professor (61.6 doctoral and 57.1 masters), associate professor (57.6 doctoral and 56.8 masters), and assistant professor (51.4 doctoral and 51.2 masters) reflect an aging faculty workforce. According to a 2010 American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) survey of vacant faculty positions, there was a 6.6% vacancy rate with 803 unfilled positions. In 2014, schools of nursing turned away 68,938 qualified applicants to baccalaureate and graduate programs primarily due to insufficient numbers of faculty (AACN, 2015a). Demands that impact the role of nurse faculty create a need to further examine factors that influence faculty job satisfaction and intent to stay. Nursing cannot afford to lose qualified faculty who are needed to educate and graduate more nurses. Mitchell, Palacios, and Leachman (2014) explained that higher education funding for most states remains well below pre-recession levels. The large funding cuts have led to tuition increases, spending cuts, eliminated course offerings, closed campuses, and reduced library services. These deficits can diminish the quality of education and compress faculty salaries when a highly educated workforce is needed for the future healthcare of our nation. Competition from higher-paying positions has also eroded the potential pool of nursing faculty. Across the nation, nurse educator annual salaries average $65,240, compared to the median salary for clinical nurse specialists at $81,586, and the median annual salary for nurse executives at $178,824 ("How Much Do", n.d.). There is a definite competitive, monetary edge for nurse educators to utilize their education and knowledge to branch outside of academia. Nursing programs are challenged by the retirement of experienced nurse educators, job competition, and role changes. This study explored technostress to gain insight into its effects on technology use, job satisfaction, and the intent to stay in teaching. Little research exists about strategies to delay the retirement of current nurse faculty; strategies to retain, replenish, and expand the future nurse faculty workforce can and must be addressed through research. Burgeoning technology with varied levels of administrative support poses a challenge to academic stability. Increasing expectations for nursing faculty to embrace and incorporate new technology is occurring at the same time faculty members are teaching growing numbers of students who must be prepared to work with technology in high stakes health care arenas. How much these issues create technostress and influence their attitudes, use of technology, job satisfaction, and intent to stay is unclear. This study aimed to fill that gap. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of nurse faculty technostress, perceived usefulness, ease of use, and attitude toward using technology on use, job satisfaction, and intent to leave the profession.
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