There has been increasing interest among researchers to understand the negative effects of technology, in the last two decades. Technostress or stress induced due to technology is extensively reported in the literature, among working professionals. Even though there has been an increased proliferation of digital devices in academia, there is a dearth of studies examining the prevalence of technostress and its impact among students. This study examines the prevalence of technostress among the younger population, in the age group of 18–28 years. Using a sample of 673 Indian private university students, this study cross-validated the technostress instrument. Increased use of technology in higher education has compelled students to complete all their academic work, including assessments, using technology. Technology-enhanced learning applications such as learning management systems, MOOCs and digital exam devices require students to develop ICT skills. The study also investigates the impact of technostress on the academic productivity of students. Findings reveal that the technostress instrument is valid to be used in the academic context, with minor modifications, and students experienced moderate levels of technostress. It was also found that technostress had a negative impact on the academic productivity of students.

Purpose: The stress-coping model is extensively studied in the academic context. Past studies have primarily focused on different coping strategies adopted by students to overcome academic stress. However, an important question, how to equip students to cope with stress, was ignored. Drawing on stress-coping theory and the extracurricular activity (ECA) literature, the current study investigates the intervention of ECA participation on students’ coping, academic performance, and well-being in a natural setting.Design/methodology/approach: The study follows a “cross-sectional post-test only quasi-experimental design” using a natural experimental setting.Findings: The findings indicate that participation in ECA has a significant influence on academic outcomes. Different types of ECA participation influence well-being, whereas time spent on ECA positively affects academic performance. Further, the findings also indicate that involvement in ECA moderates the relationship between academic stress and coping.Practical implications: The study results have practical implications for designing interventional ECA to enhance students’ academic outcomes and well-being.Originality/value: The study indicates the effectiveness of ECA participation in dealing with academic stress and the development of constructive coping strategies. Hence, the authors advise the academic administrators to integrate ECA in the academic setting.

Purpose: This study aims to perform a scoping review of the recent studies on critical resources required for the doctoral program by mapping the resources at various levels of Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems and their underlying theories. The study proposes a holistic model of supportive resources in the doctoral education.Design/methodology/approach: The current scoping review is supported by Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage methodological guidance The authors reported sixty-eight articles that were published between 2010 and 2023 and complied with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist.Findings: The study identified two categories of resources that promote doctoral student well-being: personal resources such as research self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation of the doctoral student. Second, the contextual resources provided by supervisors, department, family, peers, institution and Government policy impact the well-being of doctoral students. The study relied on the self-determination and conservation of resources theory to determine doctoral students' stress-free, high-quality research journey.Practical implications: The study findings can help higher education institutions, supervisors, peers and academicians plan and implement the finest resources to improve the well-being of doctoral students. The institutions can develop a wide range of strategies, tailored supportive programs, and interventions that can help in improving students' mental and emotional health, based on the developed multifaceted resource framework. Doctoral students can also use the review's findings to help them deal with program obstacles by encouraging themselves internally and participating in mentoring programs.Originality/value: This review article proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework by considering Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems on multilevel resources that help to understand the inter-relationship between resources required in the doctoral student's program.

Purpose: The present study develops, conceptualizes and validates a scale based on the transactional stress theory to assess the perceived challenge and hindrance demands of doctoral programs that impact doctoral students’ psychological well-being.Design/methodology/approach: This research employs an exploratory-mixed methodology comprising five phases with a sequential qualitative-quantitative approach. A rigorous scale development process is adopted to validate the instrument’s psychometric properties. The study respondents are Indian full-time doctoral students in the management discipline.Findings: The findings show that the construct of perceived challenge and hindrance demands is a first-order four-factor and a second-order two-factor model. The study has validated the scale to capture the challenge and hindrance demands of doctoral research programs with the following sub-constructs: doctoral program resource inadequacies, doctoral program ambiguity, doctoral program workload and complexity.Practical implications: The recommended challenge demands and hindrance demands (CHD) scale provides a benchmark for doctoral institutes and program supervisors in focussing on research students’ perception of their doctoral education demands to reduce the strain and increase their well-being during their doctoral program journey.Originality/value: Hindrance demands adversely influence the motivation resources needed for doctoral education; challenge demands positively impact the research students’ internal resources.

Background: Research on doctoral students’ mental well-being has gained importance in recent years. The findings of such studies were uncertain about the critical demand and resource of a doctoral program that largely influence students’ mental health. This review aims to integrate the literature to bring out the nature, importance and relationship between differentiated demands, contextual and personal resource, and doctoral students’ well-being. Methods: An integrative review was conducted based on the five-stage structure of Whittemore and Knafl. The study identified 45 articles published from 2000 onwards following the Joanna Briggs Institute quality evaluation criteria and PRISMA reporting guidelines for selecting eligible articles. Results: The integrative review findings disclose that the differentiated demand of doctoral program were categorized into challenge-hindrance demand. This demand experienced by doctoral students were grouped as ambiguity in doctoral program structure, resource inadequacy, workload, complexity, and responsibility. In addition, institutional support, research supervisory support, and intrinsic motivation were treated as essential resource to mitigate the effects of the demands of the doctoral program. Conclusions: An integrated conceptual model was built exclusively for doctoral programs and suggests that the universities and supervisors design and structure healthy, constructive doctoral programs. As an outcome of the review, differentiated demands, contextual, personal resources at the doctoral education and mental well-being of students are supported by the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, Conservation of Resources, Causality Orientations Theory and Basic Psychological Need Theory respectively. The current review is an initial attempt to synthesize challenge-hindrance demands and contextual-personal resources in determining the mental well-being of doctoral students.