Understanding the dark side of digital technostress on team innovation: the roles of deceptive knowledge hiding and team climates

Purpose Digital technology not only accelerates the team learning process but also creates pressure on team employees. Based on the technostress process model and cognitive dissonance theory, this study aims to construct an analytical framework of “digital technostress – deceptive knowledge hiding – team innovation” to examine the mechanism and boundary conditions between digital technostress and team innovation. Design/methodology/approach A total of 128 paired team samples were collected from the information transmission, software and information technology service industries in China to test the hypotheses empirically. Additionally, a structural model and a conditional indirect effect test were adopted in the robustness test. Findings Digital technostress can induce a state of cognitive dissonance in employees, prompting them to hide knowledge when facing team members’ knowledge requests and ultimately suppressing team innovation performance. Furthermore, team climates, including leadership and competitive climate, play significant roles in moderating the indirect effects of digital technostress. Originality/value Previous research has been inadequate in exploring the adverse effects of digital technostress, particularly with regard to the intermediary processes of knowledge hiding. Meanwhile, there is a lack of examination of digital technostress at the team level, especially concerning the conditions under which its impacts can be moderated. This study pioneers the integration of the technostress process model with cognitive dissonance theory to investigate the mediating mechanism of deceptive knowledge hiding. Simultaneously, it delves into the effects of digital technostress on team innovation and explores the boundary conditions of team climates, thereby enhancing our comprehension of digital technostress at the team level.