John Farrish’s research while affiliated with Southern Illinois University Carbondale and other places

Purpose This paper aims to examine technostress and asks whether it is an illness requiring accommodation under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It further explores the notion that hospitality employers may contribute to employee technostress and examines employers' potential legal liability. Finally, it recommends steps employers can take to avoid legal liability. Design/methodology/approach Technostress is defined in terms of job demand and resource theory. It explores how technology overload can contribute to employee technostress. Findings As there is currently no legal definition for technostress, courts will be guided by the standard of what a reasonably prudent individual would do to guard against a particular threat. Research limitations/implications The courts have yet to rule on whether technostress constitutes an illness requiring accommodation. It is therefore possible that technostress will not be classified as such. Still, operators should not make themselves a target for litigation. Practical implications Employers would be wise to craft policies that reduce the risk of technostress in the workplace to mitigate both its causes and effects. Social implications Very little research has been conducted examining the impact of technostress in the workplace. The obligation of employers to accommodate employees suffering from the effects of technostress will be litigated soon. This will have a significant impact on the culture surrounding catering and room sales. Originality/value No studies have been undertaken as yet to anticipate its effects on employees and what steps employers must take to accommodate employees who suffer from it. This paper fills that gap and, more importantly, does so before the issue is litigated.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how technology overload (system feature, information, and communication overload) influences salespeople’s role stress (role conflict and role ambiguity), effort to use technology and performance. This research examines whether these relationships are linear or quadratic. It also examines the moderating effect of salespeople’s technology self-efficacy. Design/methodology/approach Salespeople at a national company providing services to small and medium companies were surveyed via an online instrument to measure key constructs and control variables. Over 200 usable responses resulted; structural equation model was used to analyze the data. Findings Results show that dimensions of technology overload had linear and/or quadratic relationships with role stress, effort to use technology and performance. Salesperson’s technology self-efficacy moderated the relationship between technology overload, effort to use the technology and performance. Practical implications The benefits from new technology are not always linear. Managers should regulate the timing of technology improvements, as well as the availability of information, communication and system features, to reduce role stress and enhance efforts to use technologies. Originality/value Drawing on the job demand and resource model, this research demonstrates that technology used as a job resource will aid the salesperson and company; however, when technology overload exists, it becomes a job demand with the potential to enhance role stress and decrease salesperson performance.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a benchmark for hotel operators to understand in-room technology trends and the impact of in-room technology on business performance. Design/methodology/approach – The survey questions are based on existing literature and suggestions from the American Hotel and Lodging Association Technology and E-commerce Committee. The authors collected 206 usable samples from managers, vice presidents, presidents, owners and executives from hotel companies and utilized cross-tab analysis and multiple regression analysis. Findings – The results demonstrate that installing specific in-room technologies can have a significant effect on enhancing the customer experience and increasing revenue. The study also presents the most commonly installed in-room technologies those hoteliers plan to install in the near future. Research limitations/implications – Proper strategies are recommended to help hospitality managers understand the impact of different in-room technologies on the hospitality industry; particularly as they relate to guest experience and profitability. Originality/value – By identifying the most popular in-room technologies currently available and examining which in-room technologies can be effective at enhancing guest experience and increasing revenue, this study fills the gap between the findings of previous studies and the observations from industry practitioners.

During the past decade, information technology (IT) has significantly changed the way the hotel industry controls and manages operations. While many technologies have been utilized, some newer technologies have emerged in the literature and in practice, and many of them impact the hotel's security. The purpose of this study is to understand how hotels with different service levels are currently using these technologies, and if having an internal IT department and sufficient IT budget impacts the use of these technologies. Among the results, this study identified a gap between hoteliers’ understanding of IT budget adequacy and the adequacy of installed IT security systems. The results also showed that luxury properties were significantly more likely to employ adequate IT security systems than other service levels.