The fast-paced digital workplace presents numerous challenges for new migrant IT workers in India, drawing on the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), this qualitative study explores how these newcomers evaluate and deal with such stressorsand role of leaders. We use thematic analysis to synthesise our result. The first part of the study unveiled the challenges faced by the migrant newcomers in IT industry in India. Four themes emerged-; technostress, work-life balance, workplace socialisation, cultural dissonance and loneliness, which portrayed the challenges in a whole. The second part of the study focused on the coping mechanisms. We summarised this section using two themes namely, emotion focused and problem focused coping. The emotion focused strategies include inducing in fostering virtual bonds through the use of social media and dating apps. Apart from these, digital leisure activities like gaming or streaming are also used as emotional escapes. Further, use of mindfulness exercises and online mental health resources to manage anxiety and spiritual or religious practices provide solace in uncertain times. Whereas emotion focused coping focused on learning software and sharpening work skills. In the next part we created a model of coping and challenges using the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), to summarise and synthesise our findings. Lastly, we generated a novel 2x3 typology connecting employee coping types (emotion focused and problem focused) and leader generation (Boomers, Millennials, Gen Z) to show how generational disparities in digital leadership impact coping efficacy.

Authors:
Akanksha Mishra, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India
Pratiksha Singh, Indian Insitute of Technology Roorkee, India

About the Presenter(s)
I am Akanksha Mishra,a Doctoral Scholar,having interest in Organisational psychology reserch.My PhD thesis focuses on exploring the impact of leader aggressive humour on quiet quitting and service performance in hospitality industry frontline workers

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