Currently, the public sector is undergoing a major digital transformation. Although this digitization is seen as a positive transformation, digital tools can also put additional job demands on employees, resulting in negative HR outcomes. An example of a job demand resulting from such digital tools is red tape. By building on the job demands-resources model, we developed a theoretical model investigating the relationship between red tape originating from digital tools and turnover intention. Our data analysis (N = 779 teachers; 91 school leaders) provides evidence for a positive indirect relationship between red tape originating from digital tools and turnover intention, through emotional exhaustion. Additionally, our results also suggest that the amount of red tape perceived by an employee’s leader will exacerbate the strength of this indirect relationship, hereby providing evidence that a factor at leader-level can exacerbate effects on a lower level.
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