A moderated mediation role of job crafting in the pathway from online workload through technostress to burnout

With technology-driven work patterns persisting beyond COVID-19, employee technostress and burnout remain rising concerns. This study examines whether job crafting continues to buffer the online workload–technostress–burnout process in this altered context. Using an online survey, data were collected from 688 employees in Thailand working remotely at least twice a week, recruited through convenience sampling. Path analysis revealed that technostress fully mediated the relationship between online workload and burnout. While job crafting did not significantly reduce technostress, it directly lowered burnout and weakened the indirect impact of online workload on burnout via technostress. These findings suggest that job crafting is not universally effective across all digital stressors but may mitigate burnout when applied to manageable demands, such as online workload. The study underscores technostress as a central mechanism linking digital demands to employee strain and highlights job crafting’s conditional role in promoting resilience in technology-driven work environments.