In today’s society, as computers, the Internet, and mobile phones pervade almost every corner of life, the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on humans is dramatic. The use of ICT, however, may also have a negative side. Human interaction with technology may lead to notable stress perceptions, a phenomenon referred to as technostress. An investigation of the literature reveals that computer users’ gender has largely been ignored in technostress research, treating users as “gender-neutral.” To close this significant research gap, we conducted a laboratory experiment in which we investigated users’ physiological reaction to the malfunctioning of technology. Based on theories which explain that men, in contrast to women, are more sensitive to “achievement stress,” we predicted that male users would exhibit higher levels of stress than women in cases of system breakdown during the execution of a human-computer interaction task under time pressure, if compared to a breakdown situation without time pressure. Using skin conductance as a stress indicator, the hypothesis was confirmed. Thus, this study shows that user gender is crucial to better understanding the influence of stress factors such as computer malfunctions on physiological stress reactions. 1. Introduction Internet World Stats [1] and the International Telecommunication Union [2] indicated in 2012 that of the 7 billion people worldwide, 2.4 billion use the Internet. These two institutions report further impressive numbers, including the fact that 0.7 billion of the 1.8 billion households worldwide have a personal computer, and that there are 6 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions and 1.2 billion mobile Web users. Users of ICT, as well as organizations and society in general, have gained significant benefits through the adoption of technology (e.g., extensive possibilities for communication, increased access to information, and enhancements in productivity). The use of ICT, however, may also have a negative side. Human interaction with technology may lead to notable stress perceptions. This type of stress is referred to as technostress; a phenomenon that has been defined by the psychologist Craig Brod as “a modern disease of adaptation caused by an inability to cope with … computer technologies in a healthy manner” [3, page 16]. Technostress, consequently, is both a psychological and a biological phenomenon. A recent review on the biological effects of technostress indicates that perception of hassles during interaction with ICT (e.g., system breakdown and long and variable
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