Factors of Digital Overload among Russian Teachers

The digital transformation of education, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has increased teachers' workload, triggering digital overload, a condition characterized by cognitive exhaustion and impaired work-life balance. The aim of the study was to empirically test a comprehensive model of organizational-environmental and individual-personal factors of teachers' digital overload and its potential impact on their intention to quit. A sample of 314 teachers (96% women, average age 45) was surveyed using scales assessing the digital climate of the organization, digital competence, digital engagement, digital self-efficacy, digital overload, and intention to quit. Data were analyzed using path analysis, including the assessment of indirect effects. The results confirmed a positive relationship between teachers' digital overload and their intention to quit. The supportive digital climate of educational organizations, as an organizational-environmental factor, did not significantly affect digital overload, which contrasts with previous studies. By contrast, individual-personal factors emerged more prominently. Teachers' digital self-efficacy reduced their digital overload, while digital engagement with educational digital resources increased it. Moreover, digital competence and digital engagement reduced overload through higher digital self-efficacy. Interestingly, digital engagement directly increased digital overload but indirectly reduced it through enhanced digital self-efficacy. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research, with emphasis on their practical implications.