Virtual and augmented reality and other ICT at work: Differences in self-assessed technological characteristics and perceived digital stress.

BACKGROUND

A main goal in the advancing digitalization is to offer employees support in coping with large amounts of information and to process it context-sensitively and according to their needs. Augmented reality (AR) as an emerging technology has great potential in this regard.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this work is to generally highlight the strengths and weaknesses of various technologies and in particular to point out the potential of AR-based technologies.

METHOD: A comparison of different technologies by assessing various technology characteristics and the level of digital stress caused by the use of these technologies was conducted based on survey data.

RESULTS

The results of the conducted study show that technologies such as stationary PC, laptop or smartphone are assessed better in terms of various technology characteristics than AR. Furthermore, digitally induced stress is reported when using AR.

CONCLUSION

AR as a mobile digital assistance system still seems to fall short of its potential for human-centered work design. One reason for this may be the low degree of popularity of AR and the not fully developed technological maturity.