Managing stress in the public sector: interactions between supportive management and enacted use of wearables across jobs

Article Article scientifique Article Managing stress in the public sector: interactions between supportive management and enacted use of wearables across jobs eng 2026-02-13 author Mozgovoy Vadym 0000-0001-5322-3740 406195 author Wac Katarzyna 0000-0002-8060-399X 135759 Recherche et enseignement GSEM (RESEM) 17 10.1108/IJPSM-07-2025-0328 0951-3558 https://www.emerald.com/ijpsm/article/doi/10.1108/IJPSM-07-2025-0328/1340864/Managing-stress-in-the-public-sector-interactions Purpose This research examines the relationship between supportive management, the use of wearable technology, and felt stress in public-sector jobs with varying discretion and temporal autonomy. Design/methodology/approach We conducted two complementary studies. Study 1 analyzed survey data from 341 public sector employees using finite mixture modeling and cluster profiling. Study 2 used observational daily data from wearable sensors of 18 employees over 48 days. We also conducted an analytical comparison of the two studies’ findings, accounting for job characteristics. Findings In jobs with enabled discretion and high temporal autonomy, supportive management does not directly impact stress. However, it interacts with wearables, showing a stress-reducing association. Conversely, in jobs with constrained discretion and low temporal autonomy, supportive management directly reduces stress but does not interact with wearables. Practical implications Managers should align the use of well-being technologies with the available action space. When the action space is high, the focus should be on non-core IT processes, including private self-review windows and clear procedures for responding to alerts. When the action space is low, support should target core job operations directly. Originality/value This research integrates Street-Level Bureaucracy with the Technology Enactment Framework to examine enacted wearable use depending on action space and supportive management. Empirically, it combines a finite mixture model with wearable stress indicators to model job context heterogeneity in the public sector. Public administration Wearable technology Supportive management Street-level bureaucracy Technology enactment Finite mixture model Clustering Occupational roles Felt stress Temporal autonomy Discretion Dewey 025.06/650 Dewey 025.063 Swiss National Science Foundation Physiolytics at the workplace: How to increase motivation of and create value for employees 172740 CH 13 Centre universitaire d'informatique 0D3 118 Information Science Institute S6 false International journal of public sector management 06aae567-50e7-4997-b32d-e77eb96dbd9d Article (Published version) Restricted ijpsm-07-2025-0328_proof-1.pdf 657014 application/pdf 7e49ef13ffeaa5d4f217a80b7bc2ea08805109ce547910c6b3160eba272a95cd d1ac1a80-9456-4bcd-955a-00b7677a23a5 Appendix Restricted Supplementary_Material-1.pdf 623692 application/pdf 88e376ab5329be530e35b0d9ad5ecb1f5281d2d9bdc9c9fe352a5db77e9c51fd restrictedAccess Centres et instituts / Centre universitaire d'informatique Faculté d'économie et de management / Information Science Institute

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Managing stress in the public sector: interactions between supportive management and enacted use of wearables across jobs	International journal of public sector management			2026	7	0

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Mozgovoy, Vadym