Chinese version of the employee digital disconnection scale: development and validation

TL;DR

This paper develops and validates a Chinese version of a scale to measure how employees disconnect from digital tools at work, aiming to improve mental health.

Contribution

The study introduces a culturally adapted, validated scale for measuring employee digital disconnection in China.

Findings

The Chinese-EDDS has four dimensions related to disconnecting from digital tools in and out of work.

The scale demonstrates good reliability and validity for use in Chinese organizations.

It provides a foundation for developing tools and training to support employee mental health.

Abstract

In the digital workplace, “always on” is progressively increasing the psychological burden on employees and having a negative impact on their mental health. As a proactive self-regulation strategy, digital disconnection aims to alleviate the psychological stress caused by continuous connection by intentionally limiting their use of electronic devices and digital applications. Existing research has preliminarily defined the concept of digital disconnection, but discussions on this topic remain insufficient, particularly given the lack of effective measurement tools applicable to the Chinese organizational context. This has led to inadequate exploration of the mechanisms through which digital disconnection operates among employees in China’s collectivist culture.

Therefore, this study investigates the structural dimensions and measurement of employee digital disconnection in the Chinese organizational context through the questionnaire survey method.

By analyzing 795 questionnaires in two stages, it was found that the Chinese Version of the Employee Digital Disconnection Scale (Chinese-EDDS) includes four dimensions: digital disconnection from private information and communication technologies (ICTs) outside work (DD POW), digital disconnection from work-related ICTs outside work (DD WOW), digital disconnection from private ICTs during work (DD PDW), and digital disconnection from work-related ICTs during work (DD WDW), demonstrating good reliability and validity.

This study provides a reliable quantitative tool for researching employee digital disconnection in the Chinese organizational context, thereby offering a basis for organizations to develop supportive tools and training programs to improve the mental health of employees.