This study, grounded in the transactional theory of stress (TTS), investigates how job-related hindrance stressors mediate the effects of technostress on employees’ career-related outcomes, including career insecurity, career plateau, and career dissatisfaction. The study analyzed data from 283 airline ground staff in Tehran, Iran, using structural equation modeling and bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals to infer indirect effects. Results show that technostress significantly increases hindrance stressors, which in turn heighten career insecurity, career plateau, and career dissatisfaction. Mediation analyses confirm that hindrance stressors act as a critical mechanism linking technostress to negative affective outcomes. By highlighting hindrance stressors as the pathway through which technostress undermines employees’ career development, this study extends the service marketing literature and underscores the hidden career costs of technology-induced stress in the airline industry.
Safavi et al. (2026) studied this question.