Within the digital transformation of higher education, internal communication has become both a structural demand and a psychological force. For lecturers in Malaysia, constant connectivity and message saturation amplify FoMO and emotional exhaustion, positioning internal communication as a critical determinant of occupational well-being in increasingly digitalised academic settings. This study presents a conceptually driven framework grounded in a review of prior research and supported by preliminary empirical insights. Following an interpretivist paradigm, it brings the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model and Coping Theory as sensitising devices for comprehending internal communication as functioning as a job demand and job resource. A pilot interview was conducted with a full-time lecturer at Universiti Putra Malaysia to refine the interview protocol and validate the contextual applicability of key constructions. The broader study involves semi-structured interviews with 10–15 lecturers, conducted with reflexive thematic analysis. Preliminary findings suggest that lecturers experience communication overload as both a structural demand and a self-imposed emotional strain, underscoring the double-sided functioning of digital connectedness in academic life. Conceptually, the framework advances understanding of how FoMO operates as a psychological link between institutional communication practices and lecturer burnout. Methodologically, it illustrates the way in which sensitising theories could be mobilized in qualitative research in order to retain openness while being theoretically rigorous. Practically, it allows for higher education settings that aim to rethink communicative structures that maintain staff well-being in preference to draining it.

Authors:
Ziyue Xu, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
Nur Atirah Kamaruzaman, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

About the Presenter(s)
Xu Ziyue, Master’s student in Corporate Communication at Universiti Putra Malaysia, researches internal communication, FoMO, and burnout, and plans to pursue a PhD in industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/skyler-xu/

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

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