Workplace Technostress and Cognitive Fatigue Across Generations: A Replication and Cross-Cultural Extension Using Psychometric Validation of the Digital Burnout Scale

First, to validate the Digital Burnout Scale within the organizational context of Uzbekistan; and second, to examine a moderated mediation model exploring the relationships among job stress dimensions, digital burnout, and cognitive fatigue across three generations of workers. Within the framework of a quantitative cross-sectional study, 476 employees from service and governmental organizations in Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara cities were selected using a quota sampling method. In the current study, Tarafdar et al. Job Stress Scale, Orton and Ozjan’s Digital Burnout Scale, and Chalder’s Mental Fatigue Subscale served as data collection tools. Results of confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that three factors model of digital burnout (digital fatigue, mental distancing, and diminished technological competence) possessed good fit (CFI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.058), and all factor loadings were in the range from 0.63 to 0.88. The results of bootstrap mediation analysis have shown that digital burnout acted as a mediator between all dimensions of job stress and cognitive fatigue, with technology invasion being the most potent indirect effect (β = 0.22). It has been found through multigroup analysis that there is another pattern of moderation effect in terms of different generations. In particular, the relationship between job stress and digital burnout has been more significant for GenX individuals (β = 0.62) while the relationship between digital burnout and cognitive fatigue has been more significant for millennials and Generation Z individuals (β = 0.65 and 0.70, respectively). Thus, one may conclude that older workers are more sensitive to technological pressure while younger workers to cognitive burnout.