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Why is it so Hard to do My Work? The Challenge of Attention Residue when Switching Between Work Tasks
Abstract
In many jobs, employees must manage multiple projects or tasks at the same time. A typical workday often entails switching between several work activities, including projects, tasks, and meetings. This paper explores how such work design affects individual performance by focusing on the challenge of switching attention from one task to another. As revealed by two experiments, people need to stop thinking about one task in order to fully transition their attention and perform well on another. Yet, results indicate it is difficult for people to transition their attention away from an unfinished task and their subsequent task performance suffers. Being able to finish one task before switching to another is, however, not enough to enable effective task transitions. Time pressure while finishing a prior task is needed to disengage from the first task and thus move to the next task and it contributes to higher performance on the next task.
... Yet past evidence linking workplace telepressure to cognitive recovery processes has only used psychological detachment rather than rumination measures that capture the nature of after-work thoughts. The latter forms of rumination align with theory related to attention allocation issues due to interruptions (Leroy, 2009), which would suggest that the felt need to respond to work messages might prompt other after-work rumination processes. Knowing whether telepressure is associated with different types of after-work thoughts can help us understand any potential benefits (problem-solving) or drawbacks (affective rumination) beyond just not thinking about work in general. ...
... Alternatively, such distinctions could be important when considering the content of work-related thoughts (rumination). This is because of the unique context of message-based communications for creating problems with "attention residue"-task interruption situations where thoughts or feelings about one task interfere with another (i.e., Leroy, 2009). Specifically, the need to continuously monitor work-related emails creates attention allocation dilemmas that result in high levels of anxiety and stress due to both the aforementioned task interruptions and anticipatory stress related to what requests might appear in one's inbox (Becker et al., 2021). ...
... Our results support an attention-based aspect of effort recovery theory, which suggests that continued exposure to work demands can undermine an employee's ability to take a cognitive break after work hours (Pravettoni et al., 2007;Querstret & Cropley, 2012;Barber & Santuzzi, 2015;Sonnentag & Bayer, 2005). Although workplace telepressure is not considered to necessarily be a work demand itself, it represents a psychological experience that disrupts cognitive recovery processes through attention residue (Becker et al., 2021;Leroy, 2009). That is, employees feel the need Table 3 Hierarchical multiple regression of workplace telepressure predicting rumination and psychological detachment beyond additional individual differences and work factors Affective Rumination ...
Organizations often use message-based technologies like emails and text messages to send work-related requests and responses. Although these communications can often be convenient, workers often feel the urge to respond quickly– an experience known as workplace telepressure. Workplace telepressure has been associated with lower employee recovery experiences outside of work hours, specifically less psychological detachment (the absence of work rumination or thinking about work during nonwork time). Yet research also suggests that workplace telepressure may not predict psychological detachment beyond other concepts like workaholism (working excessively and compulsively). This research explores whether workplace telepressure may have more incremental validity for negative (affective rumination) and positive (problem-solving pondering) aspects of rumination. Online survey results from 524 full-time workers in the U.S. showed that higher levels of workplace telepressure predicted more affective rumination and problem-solving pondering (plus less psychological detachment) beyond workaholism. Exploratory analyses also showed the unique predictive validity of telepressure beyond trait self-control, public self-consciousness, workload, and information and communication technology demands. Thus, managing workplace telepressure has implications for whether employees can mentally “switch off” ruminative processes even when accounting for workaholism.
... Similarly, individual multiteamers can benefit from increased task variety (Mortensen et al., 2007) and learning opportunities (O'Leary et al., 2011). However, MTM also consistently associates with individuals' elevated stress levels (Berger & Bruch, 2021;Pluut et al., 2014), project overload (Zika-Viktorsson et al., 2006), and decreased performance (van de Brake et al., 2020a(van de Brake et al., , 2020b)presumably because multiteamers constantly need to shift their time and attention from one team to another (Leroy, 2009;O'Leary et al., 2011). Many MTM studies, therefore, focus on "theoretical insights and practical strategies that help to curtail MTM's negative implications" for individuals (van de Brake & Berger, 2023, p. 225). ...
... The literature also suggests that emotional exhaustion, defined as "one of the more extreme varieties of work-related strain" that manifests as feelings of fatigue, frustration, and wearing out (Gaines & Jermier, 1983, p. 568), is a key mechanism linking MTM number to these undesirable work outcomes. For example, scholars have found that MTM invokes chronic and extreme levels of strain because it is associated with role conflict and ambiguity (van de Brake & Berger, 2023), scheduling and interpersonal conflicts that are hard to resolve (Pluut et al., 2014), and excessive task switches and interruptions (Leroy, 2009). ...
... Accordingly, multiteamers need to readjust to multiple teams' different work practices, social settings, and technologies (irrespective of the characteristics of these multiple teams; O' Leary et al., 2011). Research on multitasking and task switching suggests that it takes time to process these context switches (Leroy, 2009;Monsell, 2003). Valuable time is lost, for example, when multiteamers need to This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. ...
Many employees are members of multiple teams, and research suggests that this may profoundly affect their stress experiences and work outcomes. We argue that progress in this research area has been hampered by a lack of clarity about what multiple team membership (MTM) is and how to conceptualize it. Prevailing conceptualizations of MTM have focused on the total number of teams an individual is a member of (MTM number). We identify how frequently employees shift their attention between different team contexts (MTM switching) and the extent to which they prioritize one membership over all others (MTM coreness) as alternative conceptualizations that better capture MTM’s consequences for individuals. Our analysis of 1,345 knowledge workers involved in 4,329 project teams shows that MTM number, MTM switching, and MTM coreness differ meaningfully in their antecedents and consequences. MTM switching and coreness (but not MTM number), respectively, relate positively and negatively to multiteamers’ emotional exhaustion and subsequent turnover. The positive consequences of MTM coreness only occur, however, when multiteamers have prior work experience with the members of their teams (i.e., team member familiarity). These findings help to clarify the potential benefits and detriments of MTM and advance the growing literature in this area.
... For example, an alert about a phone's battery status reminds us to charge it before leaving home; information about a sudden traffic jam down the road helps us to adapt our driving route; and a text message stating that a person we are scheduled to meet with will be 20 minutes late allows us to use the extra time more efficiently. Nevertheless, such an opportunity to guide a user towards efficient multitasking often results in fragmenting a user's attention, reducing work performance [60], increasing task error rates [11], inducing stress [64], and even facilitating uninstalls of applications due to annoyed users [86]. With the increasing number of applications and devices we use, the chances for irrelevant and unwanted interruptions rise. ...
... The rapid interweaving of ubiquitous computing in our everyday life facilitates numerous channels for communication while at the same time leaving only a few barriers for attention capturing. The net effect of uncontrolled exposure to interruptions is negative, especially in terms of task completion [11], performance [60], and emotional states [64]. ...
Today's information and communication devices provide always-on connectivity, instant access to an endless repository of information, and represent the most direct point of contact to almost any person in the world. Despite these advantages, devices such as smartphones or personal computers lead to the phenomenon of attention fragmentation, continuously interrupting individuals' activities and tasks with notifications. Attention management systems aim to provide active support in such scenarios, managing interruptions, for example, by postponing notifications to opportune moments for information delivery. In this article, we review attention management system research with a particular focus on ubiquitous computing environments. We first examine cognitive theories of attention and extract guidelines for practical attention management systems. Mathematical models of human attention are at the core of these systems, and in this article, we review sensing and machine learning techniques that make such models possible. We then discuss design challenges towards the implementation of such systems, and finally, we investigate future directions in this area, paving the way for new approaches and systems supporting users in their attention management.
... While traditional work design emphasizes task specialization, multitasking necessitates frequent transitions between diverse tasks within short time frames (Kudesia et al., 2022). This multitasking work mode presents novel challenges for employees in terms of cognitive demands, time pressure and resource allocation (Leroy, 2009). ...
... Frequent task-switching significantly increases role conflict (Baethge et al., 2015) and may lead to role ambiguity (Zika-Viktorsson et al., 2006). As hotel service employees rapidly shift between tasks, they may struggle to fully understand the expectations and boundaries of each role, as cognitive residue from previous tasks can interfere with performance on subsequent tasks, potentially exacerbating role ambiguity (Leroy, 2009). ...
Purpose
Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this paper aims to propose that daily multitasking increases employees’ daily role pressure, ultimately hindering their service innovation behavior. Furthermore, we suggest that trait mindfulness may mitigate this negative impact.
Design/methodology/approach
To empirically test the study hypotheses, this paper conducted a multilevel diary field study, collecting data from 64 employees over 10 working days to comprehensively validate the theoretical model.
Findings
The findings indicate that daily multitasking indirectly reduces daily service innovation behavior by increasing employee role pressure. Notably, this indirect effect is more pronounced among employees with lower trait mindfulness, while it is less significant for those with higher trait mindfulness.
Practical implications
Hotels should manage multitasking, reduce employee stress and promote service innovation by optimizing task allocation and redesigning work processes. Additionally, hotel management should adopt a multifaceted and innovative approach to foster mindfulness traits.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on multitasking and innovation by examining how and when daily multitasking influences employee service innovation behavior.
... flexibility) in the next task. This is consistent with findings in the task-switching literature regarding the general difficulty that people have re-engaging in a new task (Leroy, 2009). We believe the negative influence would be even more profound in our case given the level of engagement in flow. ...
... Our findings also contribute to the task switching literature, which has demonstrated that task switching can influence cognition in both positive (Kapadia & Melwani, 2021) and negative ways (Leroy, 2009). For example, Lu et al. (2017) suggest that task switching can increase creativity by decreasing cognitive fixation. ...
Flow is touted for the enjoyment it provides and for its relationship with concurrent task performance. But what happens when flow ends, and you move on to your next task? Our research demonstrates that there is a cost to being in flow in this regard. Specifically, the findings of three studies with 746 participants demonstrate that a person who just experienced flow carries forward a figurative tunnel vision which limits their creativity. This is important because flow can happen throughout daily life and can thus impair many creative tasks. In fact, our findings demonstrate that common activities can elicit a flow state that produces the effect on multiple subsequent tasks. Specifically, participants who experienced flow while playing video games in Study 1 were less creative in their subsequent two tasks compared to those who did not experience flow. This finding was replicated in Study 2 with a new flow inducing task. Study 2 also confirmed cognitive flexibility as an underlying mechanism wherein flow leads to a reduction in cognitive flexibility. Lastly, Study 3 shows that people can experience flow while shopping online, and if they do, their creativity is impaired in their next task. The negative carry-over effect was not equal for all forms of creativity, however; it consistently limited verbal creativity, but had limited influence on figural creativity. These findings make several theoretical contributions regarding the nature of flow and its consequences, while also providing practical insights for people structuring their day to increase creativity.
... Interleaving involves partial alternation to a second task, while another activity remains in the background. Hence, in the case of interleaving, the main activity claims most but not all resources, for instance due to attention residue (Leroy, 2009). Overlaying refers to the simultaneous execution of tasks: both activities are carried out at the same time with a parallel allocation of resources. ...
... When they are in this state, they are better able to channel physical, emotional, and cognitive energies into their work tasks such that they are not easily fatigued and can show persistence in the face of difficulties (Christian et al., 2011). A workday full of multitasking is cognitively and emotionally demanding and likely to deplete self-regulatory resources, with little opportunity for recovery and replenishment (Leroy, 2009;Freeman and Muraven, 2010;Baethge and Rigotti, 2013;Baethge et al., 2015). The state of work engagement offers substitute personal resources that should make it easier to deal with the stressful nature of multitasking. ...
In this diary study, we contribute to research on day-level multitasking in organizations by investigating why and when multitasking impairs employees’ work-related flow and subjective job performance on a daily basis. Drawing on Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional model of stress and coping, we propose that employees’ appraisal of their daily tasks (i.e., less challenging and more hindering) may explain why multitasking has negative implications for flow and job performance. Moreover, we expect that daily work engagement can buffer the detrimental effects of multitasking on flow and job performance. A total of 33 professional workers in the food industry participated in our study and were asked to respond to 10 daily surveys at work across 4 weeks. In line with our expectations, results showed that on days when employees’ working time was highly fragmented across a high number of tasks, they experienced less flow and, in turn, their job performance was lower on that particular day. Moreover, appraisal of daily tasks as less challenging – though not more hindering – explained why multitasking impairs flow. Finally, daily work engagement buffered the detrimental impact of multitasking on flow. The results presented in this paper offer novel and ecologically valid insights into why and when multitasking may backfire for employees.
... Al Faruque, and S. Elmalaki are with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697 USA. e-mail: {taherisa,alfaruqu,selmalak}@uci.edu and complex work and learning environment make it difficult for humans to show extended focus, engagement, or attention on a specific learning task, directly affecting their performance in everyday tasks [5]. Hence, we need to rethink the future of the learning environment to incorporate the human learning state (focus, engagement, attention) as an integral part of its design. ...
... 5 . Various methods have been developed to calculate the fractal dimension, mainly based on the entropy concept. ...
Thanks to the rapid growth in wearable technologies and advancements in machine learning, monitoring complex human contexts becomes feasible, paving the way to develop human-in-the-loop IoT systems that naturally evolve to adapt to the human and environment state autonomously. Nevertheless, a central challenge in designing many of these IoT systems arises from the requirement to infer the human mental state, such as intention, stress, cognition load, or learning ability. While different human contexts can be inferred from the fusion of different sensor modalities that can correlate to a particular mental state, the human brain provides a richer sensor modality that gives us more insights into the required human context. This paper proposes ERUDITE, a human-in-the-loop IoT system for the learning environment that exploits recent wearable neurotechnology to decode brain signals. Through insights from concept learning theory, ERUDITE can infer the human state of learning and understand when human learning increases or declines. By quantifying human learning as an input sensory signal, ERUDITE can provide adequate personalized feedback to humans in a learning environment to enhance their learning experience. ERUDITE is evaluated across 15 participants and showed that by using the brain signals as a sensor modality to infer the human learning state and providing personalized adaptation to the learning environment, the participants’ learning performance increased on average by 26%. Furthermore, to evaluate ERUDITE practicality and scalability, we showed that ERUDITE can be deployed on an edge-based prototype consuming 75 mW power on average with 100 MB memory footprint.
... Research on working patterns finds an association between taskswitching and a decrease in continuous focus, as well as a difficulty in returning to interrupted tasks (Czerwinski et al., 2004). Further studies show that users tend to make more errors when completing tasks after being interrupted (Borst et al., 2015;Leroy, 2009), experience increased time pressure, stress, and frustration (Mark et al., 2008(Mark et al., , 2018, become more susceptible to further interruptions (Dabbish et al., 2011), and need additional time to return to interrupted tasks or may not return to them at all (Mark et al., 2005;O'Conaill and Frohlich, 1995). ...
The smartphone helps workers balance the demands of their professional and personal lives but can also be a distraction, affecting productivity, wellbeing, and work-life balance. Drawing from insights on the impact of physical environments on object engagement, this study examines how the distance between the smartphone and the user influences interactions in work contexts. Participants ( N = 22) engaged in two 5h knowledge work sessions on the computer, with the smartphone placed outside their immediate reach during one session. Results show that limited smartphone accessibility led to reduced smartphone use, but participants shifted non-work activities to the computer and the time they spent on work and leisure activities overall remained unchanged. These findings suggest that discussions on smartphone disruptiveness in work contexts should consider the specific activities performed, challenging narratives of ‘smartphone addiction’ and ‘smartphone overuse’ as the cause of increased disruptions and lowered work productivity.
... Having the convenience of the probe situated beside the highlight made it easier for them to look up information. The alternative of opening new tabs to conduct searches would have been disruptive given that context switching drives cognitive overhead when attention is split across multiple contexts [55]. Having the Write Own Query search embedded in the page also makes it easy for them to make revisions to their queries. ...
Social platforms have expanded opportunities for deliberation with the comments being used to inform one's opinion. However, using such information to form opinions is challenged by unsubstantiated or false content. To enhance the quality of opinion formation and potentially confer resistance to misinformation, we developed Iffy-Or-Not (ION), a browser extension that seeks to invoke critical thinking when reading texts. With three features guided by argumentation theory, ION highlights fallacious content, suggests diverse queries to probe them with, and offers deeper questions to consider and chat with others about. From a user study (N=18), we found that ION encourages users to be more attentive to the content, suggests queries that align with or are preferable to their own, and poses thought-provoking questions that expands their perspectives. However, some participants expressed aversion to ION due to misalignments with their information goals and thinking predispositions. Potential backfiring effects with ION are discussed.
... Contributing factors include technological overload caused by constant notifications and messages, often interrupting daily activities [6] . Additionally, multitasking and constant task-switching at work exacerbate digital fatigue [19] . Jobs requiring workers to manage multiple streams of digital communication are particularly affected, as these demands result in cognitive fatigue and reduced productivity [20] . ...
Digital fatigue, a condition arising from prolonged engagement with digital tools, significantly affects employee productivity and well-being. This scoping review explores the contributing factors, consequences, and mitigation strategies related to digital fatigue in professional settings. A systematic search of peer-reviewed literature (2010-2025) identified key themes, including cognitive overload, the impact of synchronous vs. asynchronous communication, and the blurring of work-life boundaries. Findings indicate that excessive digital engagement leads to mental exhaustion, reduced job performance, and heightened stress. Contradictions in the literature highlight the need for contextualized approaches to digital communication. Practical recommendations include hybrid communication strategies, digital wellness programs, and revised organizational policies to support employee well-being. Future research should employ longitudinal and experimental methods to assess the evolving nature of digital fatigue and its long-term impact on workplace dynamics. By integrating sustainable digital practices, organizations can mitigate digital fatigue and foster a healthier, more productive workforce.
... One well-documented effect of multitasking is the tendency for individuals to overestimate their productivity [50]. This phenomenon, often highlighted in research, suggests that multitaskers frequently believe they are accomplishing more than they actually are, due to the cognitive illusion of efficiency created by rapidly switching between tasks [51]. In the context of GMM, a similar overestimation might occur regarding viewer satisfaction. ...
... Management scholars and practitioners have been paying more attention to attention (Ocasio, 2011)-particularly to coordinating collective attention (Woolley, Chow, Mayo, Chang, & Riedl, 2022), which involves inhibiting extraneous "stimuli" to help groups of employees focus selectively on the right information and people at the right times. But this critical management task (Cardinal, Kreutzer, & Miller, 2017;Cardinal, Sitkin, & Long, 2004;Cummings & Haas, 2012;Leroy, 2009;Leroy, Schmidt, & Madjar, 2020;Mortensen & Haas, 2018;Ouchi, 1979) is often thwarted by a countervailing trend: breaking down boundaries within organizations to foster broader exchange and collaboration. ...
As rapid organizational and technological change makes boundaries within workplaces more permeable, employees are gaining unprecedented access to new people and information. This both increases opportunities for collaboration and heightens the risk of attention overload. While scholars have investigated overload with respect to “what” employees attend to, little research has examined the challenges concerning “whom” to attend to, resulting in ambiguity that can undermine collaborative relationships. In this paper, we integrate and advance insights from organizational control and selective-attention research, building on those macro- and micro-level theories to better conceptualize collective attention when the potential target is a colleague (human) rather than information (nonhuman)—which we conceptualize as relational attention, i.e., attention-to-whom. Further, we propose a separate, meso-level theory of transactive control of relational attention, building on concepts of transactive behavior from other fields. By exploring how such transactive control works, we begin to define the conditions organizations need to cultivate—regarding mutually transparent availability, synchronous attentional allocation, and reciprocal attentional allocation—to reduce relational overload without sacrificing productive work relationships or other benefits of more permeable internal boundaries. In addition to shedding light on underexamined attention problems in the workplace, this model contributes to future research by forging multi-level connections between individual meta-attention, transactive control over relational attention, and more traditional forms of organizational control.
... Work interruptions refer to "temporary suspensions of goaldirected action" (Baethge and Rigotti, 2013, p. 43) and create a need to invest time and effort in mastering the interrupting task or issue before being able to fully return to a task (Leroy, 2009). Employees can be interrupted by a variety of sources, including supervisors, colleagues, and customers (for an overview, see Puranik et al., 2020). ...
Introduction
High email load has been associated with impaired well-being because emails impose specific demands, disturb the workflow, and thereby overtax individuals’ action regulation toward prioritized goals. However, the causes and well-being-related consequences of email load are not yet well understood, as previous studies have neglected the interaction type and function of emails as well as co-occurring stressors as antecedents of high email load and have relied predominantly on cross-sectional designs.
Methods
In two studies, we aimed to clarify the nature of email load through the lens of action regulation theory. The first study, a two-wave investigation with a fortnightly interval, examined the lagged relationships among email load, work stressors, strain, and affective well-being. The sample included 444 individuals across various occupations and organizations, with 196 of them working from home or remotely at least part of the time. In the second cross-sectional study, we surveyed 257 individuals using a convenience sampling approach, 108 of whom worked from home or remotely at least partially. This study focused on evaluating how different email classes—distinguished by email interaction type (received vs. processed) and email function (communication vs. task)—serve as predictors of high email load.
Results
In Study 1, we found a positive lagged effect of high email load on strain, even when controlling for the co-occurring stressors time pressure and work interruptions. In addition, lagged effects of email load on time pressure and interruptions were identified, while no evidence was found for the reverse direction. The results of Study 2 suggest that only the number of communication-related emails received, but not the number of task-related emails received, or the number of all emails processed contribute to high email load.
Conclusion
Findings suggest that email load can be considered a unique stressor and that different classes of email need to be distinguished to understand its nature. Clarifying the sources of email load can help develop effective strategies to address it.
... The constant barrage of notifications, updates, and messages can fragment students' attention, making it difficult for them to focus on their studies. This phenomenon, known as "attention residue," occurs when a person's mind remains partially focused on a previous task or distraction, even after they have switched to a new task (Leroy, 2009). In the context of education, attention residue can reduce students' ability to concentrate on their academic work, leading to decreased productivity and learning outcomes. ...
Social media has become an omnipresent force in the lives of students, educators, and academic institutions worldwide. As digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok continue to evolve, they are increasingly being integrated into the educational sphere, raising critical questions about their role in learning. Are these platforms merely distractions that hinder academic performance, or can they be harnessed as powerful tools to enhance education? This paper explores both perspectives, analyzing social media's potential advantages and pitfalls in education. Drawing on contemporary research, case studies, and educational theory, this article argues that social media, when used strategically and responsibly, has the potential to foster collaboration, engagement, and creativity in academic environments. However, the negative implications must be carefully managed, such as distraction, misinformation, and privacy concerns. This paper concludes with recommendations for educators on how to strike a balance between leveraging social media's benefits and minimizing its risks.
... Meanwhile, organization-set performance goal requires employees to finish challenging and complex work tasks, which may conflict with what SRHRM encourages (Latham & Locke, 2007). Given that personal resources are limited (Halbesleben et al., 2014), employees are likely to feel tired of switching tasks between financial and social goals (Leroy, 2009), which may threaten their important resources (e.g. time and energy). ...
Extant studies have shown that socially responsible human resource management (SRHRM) brings beneficial effects on employees’ work outcomes. However, little attention has been given to the effect of SRHRM on employee resilience from a balanced perspective. This study draws on conversation of resources theory to examine how and when SRHRM influences employee resilience from a balanced perspective. Using two scenario-based experiments and one multi-wave field study, results show that SRHRM can enhance employee resilience by increasing work meaningfulness, but it can also deplete employee resilience by draining resources. Moreover, organization-set performance goal weakens the positive relationship between SRHRM and employees’ work meaningfulness. Organization-set performance goal also magnifies the positive relationship between SRHRM and employees’ resource depletion. This study presents theoretical and practical implications on how organizations can precisely promote employee resilience.
... In contrast to the benefits of disclosure and integration found in the identity management literature (Clair et al., 2005), the boundary management literature suggests that integrating two different roles creates role blurring and leads to increased stress (Allen, Cho, & Meier, 2014;Ashforth, Kreine, & Fugate 2000;Nippert-Eng 1996). Therefore, we expect that the more MJHers utilize integration, rather than avoidance, identity management strategies, the blurrier the boundaries between their two jobs will become and the more MJHers will suffer from attention residue (Leroy, 2009;Newton, LePine, Kim, Wellman, & Bush, 2020) and stress. ...
... Eventually, this might have detrimental consequences for their work performance that day. Indeed, we know from previous research that non-work interruptions and distractions at work have harmful effects on employees' performance (Baethge & Rigotti, 2013;Leroy, 2009;Leroy et al., 2021). ...
... Task switching is a particularly demanding cognitive process 25 and important for performance in the workplace. 26 Interventions such as brain training for task switching (provided it is acceptable to the patient and their fatigue level) might help to reduce the effect of long COVID for individuals and the wider economy. 27 A study of this kind cannot identify the mechanisms underpinning the different symptom trajectories, but it can provide some clues. ...
... This research has also provided ample evidence that digital stress, also referred to as technostress in the literature, along with related phenomena such as videoconference fatigue [4][5][6][7], is a serious problem for both society and the economy [6,8,9]. In addition to negative effects on task performance and productivity [10][11][12], digital stress can lead to various negative psychological and physiological effects, including higher psychological or physiological stress levels or reduced physical or psychological well-being [6,11,13,14]. Hence, research activities and findings from research on digital stress are particularly valuable to counteract this "dark side" of digital technologies [15]. ...
Over the past decade, stress caused by the ubiquity of digital technologies has increasingly come into focus in both scientific research and practice. One strategy that has received increasing attention in recent years to counteract the negative consequences of digital stress is digital detoxing, which refers to temporary or complete disengagement from digital technologies. To lay the foundation for future research, we reviewed existing empirical studies on digital detoxing from a neurophysiological measurement perspective. The identified empirical digital detoxing studies that included neurophysiological measurements are described along with the following factors: research objective, research method, sample size, study population, and research findings. We conclude that this increasingly relevant research topic is still at a relatively nascent stage, both in general and specifically regarding neurophysiological measurements. We anticipate that the use of measures related to the brain and human body, including nervous system activity and hormone measures, will gain relevance in future empirical research on digital detoxing.
... This challenge is amplified when individuals feel obliged to stay up to date with broadcasts and interrupt their work to attend to new posts. There is ample evidence that such multitasking practices and the cognitive switches they entail can harm productivity (Leroy, 2009). ...
Enterprise social networks (ESNs) are a communication standard within virtual teams. Among other affordances, ESNs enable colleagues to provide each other with social support. In this paper, we analyzed the message logs of virtual teams in a large open-source software project to determine how virtual teams use ESNs to provide particular forms of social support to each other and, secondly, to determine how the visibility of these interaction patterns influences team functioning. Our findings reveal distinct ESN use patterns in relation to four types of social support, each described using a metaphor: a dynamic notice board for information sharing, a community of practice for teaching and knowledge sharing, a team huddle for emotional support, and a job board for instrumental support. The findings provide structure to the diverse set of social support actions in this context and identify the higher-order functions that the visibility of social support produces.
... accumulated or incomplete tasks) (Smit, 2016). In the same vein, Leroy (2009) found that disengaging from a task and redirecting the attention towards a different matter was difficult for employees with unfinished tasks. Therefore, in our third hypothesis we propose that: ...
Work–family conflict (WFC) is a common experience which frequently affects employees’ performance and wellbeing. But among dual-earner couples, is it possible that employees’ WFC relates to spouses’ job performance? Why does this occur and what are the associated consequences? Drawing on crossover literature and the stressor–detachment model, we explore a number of crossover and spillover effects. Specifically, we propose that employees’ WFC negatively affects spouses’ home detachment and job performance on the next day (crossover effects), which relates to spouses’ lower work detachment (spillover effects). We conducted a diary study among 145 working couples who responded to a daily survey over five consecutive working days (N = 1450 occasions). Our results from
multilevel analyses largely supported our hypotheses. Employees’
WFC predicted lower home detachment of spouses on the following day, which, in turn, negatively affected spouses’ performance and work detachment. These findings show that WFC affects spouses beyond the family domain and that detachment from family-related issues is key to performing well and disconnecting from work.
... Digital mindfulness can also assist individuals in focusing on one task at a time, closing their minds to alternative distracting tasks. Leroy (2009) proposed the concept of attention residue when switching between work tasks. This residue has a cognitive detrimental impact as the mechanistic nature of multitasking reduces the ability to concentrate on the second task. ...
Nomophobia is the fear of not accessing a mobile phone which has been recognised in the literature as a series of feelings and symptoms experienced by mobile/smartphone users. In the same manner, distraction and addiction have been found to interact with increasing usage and impact on users’ wellbeing. This study aimed to explore the relationship between nomophobia and distraction-addiction through a cross-sectional study. One hundred and sixty-four participants aged between 18 and 70, 118 females (72%) and 46 males (28%) completed the Smartphone Addiction Scale, the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, and the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q). Distraction, addiction, and nomophobia scores were moderately to strongly correlated. Distraction and addiction scores were both significant predictors of nomophobia scores. Males scored higher for nomophobia but lower for addiction than females, with no differences for distraction. Results suggest that feelings of nomophobia may be related to withdrawal and addiction effects rather than fear. Findings may support the inclusion of a “Smartphone Addiction Disorder” in future editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Further research exploring symptoms and severity of Nomophobia may contribute to the diagnosis and treatment.
... Moreover, because political views are personally relevant (Beck & Shen, 2019), ambient workplace political conversations likely trigger demanding self-regulatory processes, including shifting attention to process information overheard from coworkers discussing political issues, managing emotional reactions, and redeploying attention to work tasks . This aligns with research suggesting that workplace interruptions are cognitively demanding, as cognitive resources are depleted when employees switch focus to off-task demands and have to then refocus their efforts on work (Leroy, 2009;. Thus, as employees shift focus to attend to ambient political conversations, we surmise that cognitive depletion will occur. ...
Discussions of politics have become increasingly common in the workplace, likely due to increasing political polarization around the world. Because of this, political conversations have the potential to be emotionally charged and disruptive, creating tension in the workplace and negatively affecting employee productivity and well-being. In light of this possibility, the goal of the current investigation was to examine the costs of ambient political conversations in the workplace, assuming that simply overhearing such discussions—without being a participant in them—may have unintended consequences for employees. Across three studies, our findings indicated that employees experience negative affect after overhearing political conversations at work, with these effects being attenuated (amplified) in contexts where employees perceive that their coworkers are more (less) similar to them. In addition to unpacking the mechanisms through which ambient workplace political conversations might impact employee outcomes, our findings from Studies 3A–B provide evidence that under certain circumstances (i.e., when employees agree with the content of ambient workplace political conversations), employees may experience a boost in positive affect after overhearing such conversations at work. Altogether, our findings provide insight into the costs and potential benefits associated with overhearing coworkers discussing politics in the workplace, particularly for those employees who perceive themselves to be dissimilar from their coworkers.
... The selection of this particular NDRT was motivated by its ability to engage all three types of resources under investigation: visual, cognitive, and physical. Additionally, the word puzzle task offered the added advantage of inducing sustained task-related thoughts (Leroy, 2009). The word puzzle task was designed with an unsolvable difficulty level within the allocated time to ensure that it would not be completed before the takeover. ...
Objectives
This study aimed to investigate drivers’ disengagement from nondriving related tasks (NDRT) during scheduled takeovers and to evaluate its impact on takeover performance.
Background
During scheduled takeovers, drivers typically have sufficient time to prepare. However, inadequate disengagement from NDRTs can introduce safety risks.
Method
Participants experienced scheduled takeovers using a driving simulator, undergoing two conditions, with and without an NDRT. We assessed their takeover performance and monitored their NDRT disengagement from visual, cognitive, and physical perspectives.
Results
The study examined three NDRT disengagement timings (DTs): DT1 (disengaged before the takeover request), DT2 (disengaged after the request but before taking over), and DT3 (not disengaged). The impact of NDRT on takeover performance varied depending on DTs. Specifically, DT1 demonstrated no adverse effects; DT2 impaired takeover time, while DT3 impaired both takeover time and quality. Additionally, participants who displayed DT1 exhibited longer eye-off-NDRT duration and a higher eye-off-NDRT count during the prewarning stage compared to those with DT2 and DT3.
Conclusion
Drivers can benefit from earlier disengagement from NDRTs, demonstrating resilience to the adverse effects of NDRTs on takeover performance. The disengagement of cognition is often delayed compared to that of eyes and hands, potentially leading to DT3. Moreover, visual disengagement from NDRTs during the prewarning stage could distinguish DT1 from the other two.
Application
Our study emphasizes considering NDRT disengagement in designing systems for scheduled takeovers. Measures should be taken to promote early disengagement, facilitate cognitive disengagement, and employ visual disengagement during the prewarning period as predictive indicators of DTs.
... As the above example begins to illustrate, while idling, members' attention is likely focused on any number of things, including different points in time, and tends to oscillate between the self, others, and the task environment more broadly. Research has suggested that in addition to focusing on their current contributions, during the early stages of a task members are likely to ruminate about the past, such as what happened just prior to the group commencing its work (Leroy, 2009), or to be focused on thoughts about the future (Shipp & Aeon, 2019), including worries of what might happen. Thus, the attention individuals devote to thinking about the past, present, and future, known as temporal focus (Shipp, Edwards, & Lambert, 2009), is likely to shift during this stage, and to vary across members. ...
... When considering the organizational coupling between microservices, we consider that the switching behavior of the developers is a key factor. The reason is that people need to stop thinking about one task in order to fully transition their attention and perform well on another [19]. Therefore, the more frequently developers switch between different microservices, the more difficult it is for them to concentrate and perform well on any. ...
For traditional modular software systems, “high cohesion, low coupling” is a recommended setting while it remains so for microservice architectures. However, coupling phenomena commonly exist therein which are caused by cross-service calls and dependencies. In addition, it is noticeable that teams for microservice projects can also suffer from high coupling issues in terms of their cross-service contribution, which can inevitably result in technical debt and high managerial costs. Such organizational coupling needs to be detected and mitigated in time to prevent future losses. Therefore, this paper proposes an automatable approach to evaluate the organizational coupling by investigating the microservice ownership and cross-service contribution. Furthermore, we validate the feasibility of the approach using a case study of a popular microservice project. The results show that, with sufficient software repository data, we can not only evaluate the organizational coupling in microservice system projects but also continuously monitor its evolution.
... When employees perceive their personal smartphone use to be highly disrupted and are compelled to passively engage with nonwork-related matters, their attention is diverted from their primary tasks to private information (Derks et al., 2021). Unfortunately, switching attention from one task to another comes with a cost, as it requires mental effort and time to disengage from one task and reorient to another (Leroy, 2009). Consequently, this switching of attention can have detrimental effects on subsequent work, impacting employees' performance and inhibiting their ability to innovate . ...
Even though there has been a series of research on nonwork-related mobile technology use during working hours, it is unclear whether its impact on innovative behavior is linearly positive or negative. Moreover, we posit that mobile technology use does not all lead to the equal outcomes, varying in its type (active use and passive use, two common types of workplace behavior) depending on self-determination theory. To address such inconsistency, grounded in the conservation of resources theory, we postulated the curvilinear relationship between work time active use and innovative behavior as well as the linear relationship between work time passive use and innovative behavior. Using a conditional process model, we further predicted that vitality would nonlinearly and linearly mediate, respectively, and proactive personality would moderate, these relationships. In line with our prediction, the relationship between work time active use and innovative behavior was curvilinear, which was mediated by vitality. Similarly, work time passive use was negatively correlated with innovative behavior (linear), with vitality mediating this relationship. As well, when proactive personality was low (vs. high), curvilinear relationships were more pronounced, as were linear relationships. Finally, proactive personality moderated the indirect curvilinear effect of work time active use on innovative behavior via vitality, so dose linear effect of work time passive use on innovative behavior via vitality.
... This would contribute to more sleep problems. Moreover, Leroy's (2009) research suggested that people have attention residue from the previous task which affects how they perform the subsequent task. The attention residue effect is shown to be stronger when the previous task is not finished. ...
The prevalence of workaholism has negative consequences on human health. Lack of sleep, a well-known problem among adults in modern society, is often attributed to overwork as a result of workaholism. Yet there is a lack of empirical research examining how and when workaholism will lead to sleep problems. To answer this question and to examine the longitudinal effect of workaholism on sleep in China, we investigate the mediating role of perceived evening responsibilities of work and the moderating effect of work autonomy. Two hundred and five Chinese working adults (58.0% female) voluntarily completed the online questionnaires at Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2; 1-month later). Results showed that workaholism at T1 had a significant and positive correlation with sleep problem at T2. Further analysis suggested that perceived evening responsibilities of work fully mediated the relationship between workaholism and sleep problem. Work autonomy was shown to buffer the positive effect of workaholism on perceived evening responsibilities of work and attenuate the indirect effect of workaholism on sleep problem. While workers should be made aware of the negative impact of workaholism on sleep, organizations should also consider interventions to enhance employees’ autonomy and control of their work.
The rise of digital labour platforms has made side‐hustles a defining feature of modern work. The debate over whether side‐hustles benefit or burden full‐time work remains unresolved. We propose side‐hustle thriving as a key factor. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we theorize dual pathways: Side‐hustle thriving enhances full‐time work performance through psychological detachment from and affective well‐being within employees' full‐time roles (resource gain), yet simultaneously impairs it via side‐hustle attention residue and full‐time work resource depletion (resource depletion). Two studies, one with 10‐day experience sampling (N = 97, 644 observations) and another with a multisource, multiwave design (N = 247), support this framework. Crucially, we identify boundary segmentation preference between side‐hustles and full‐time work as a key moderator: Employees who strongly separate work domains amplify the resource gain pathway while mitigating resource depletion. This research offers a nuanced framework for managing multiple jobholding in the gig economy era.
Тайм-менеджмент є ключовим інструментом у забезпеченні ефективності управління організаційною поведінкою, сприяючи досягненню цілей організації та підвищенню продуктивності працівників. У статті розглядаються основні принципи тайм-менеджменту, їх вплив на організаційну поведінку, а також інструменти, які допомагають керівникам оптимізувати процеси управління. Особливу увагу приділено дослідженю проблем управління організаційною поведінкою в умова дистанційної роботи та шляхів їх вирішення за допомогою сучасних практик тайм-менеджменту. Дослідження базується на теоретичних підходах та практичних прикладах з метою розкриття впливу тайм-менеджменту на мотивацію, ефективність комунікацій та розподіл ресурсів в організаціях. Результати дослідження свідчать про те, що впровадження ефективних стратегій управління часом здатне значно покращити організаційну поведінку, зменшити рівень стресу серед працівників та підвищити конкурентоспроможність компанії.
Purpose
This paper aims to empirically study the effect of work boundary violations in remote settings on daily goal progress and the important role that work role reengagement plays for remote workers.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper conducted a five-day diary study in China, involving a total of 118 remote workers, to collect data on the effects of work boundary violations on daily goal progress.
Findings
The results demonstrated that self-control resource depletion plays a mediating role in the relationship between work boundary violations and daily goal progress. In addition, work role reengagement was found to mitigate the association between work boundary violations and self-control resource depletion.
Practical implications
This paper provides employees with the signals that cause them to perform less well in remote work situations than in traditional offices. Employees can develop work−family boundary management strategies to reduce work boundary violations while teleworking.
Originality/value
This paper enriches the existing literature on work boundary violations by incorporating ego depletion theory and integrating it with the current boundary management literature. The paper provides theoretically grounded recommendations for organizations seeking to enhance the efficiency of remote workers.
This study investigates the application of microlearning as a teaching method that enhances the effectiveness of foreign language education. With the increasing demand for innovative approaches in language teaching, driven by the digitalisation and technologisation of education and society, it is important to understand how microlearning impacts the cognitive functions of students: attention, concentration, and memory. The purpose of the research is to analyse microlearning from the perspective of how its application affects these cognitive mechanisms and how it can be effectively incorporated into foreign language lessons to improve overall student performance and formulate a knowledgeable approach to the learning process. To achieve this, a systematic and traditional descriptive literature review followed by qualitative data analysis was used. The research materials encompass scientific and methodological articles from periodicals, accompanied by methodological manuals and manuscripts by Russian and foreign authors. Theoretical and empirical scientific research published in Scopus peer-reviewed publications was also utilised to supplement the research. The outcome of this exploration demonstrates that microlearning generates heightened attentiveness in students when engaging in predefined learning tasks. Consistent integration of the method into foreign language lessons strengthens students’ aptitude to transition into a state of enhanced focus. The analysis verifies the effectiveness of microlearning as a supplemental strategy when integrated into existing curricula and employed in conjunction with conventional foreign language teaching methods, such as communicative methodology and lexical approach, among others. The findings carry particular methodical importance for teachers, augmenting the theoretical base of microlearning research within the context of foreign language education.
Telework arrangements remain popular since they have been “normalized” in the context of the pandemic. Telework may help reduce the gender gap in access to work despite women’s prominent role in caring responsibilities. However, the work experience and career effects of such arrangements may also be gendered, particularly given the increased number of cross-domain interruptions that tend to accompany telework. We investigated the gendered effects of cross-domain interruptions between childcare and telework through a mixed methods approach, including a daily diary study with 339 teleworking parents and semi-structured interviews with 16 teleworking mothers and 16 teleworking fathers. We find that childcare-to-work interruptions have negative effects on the fulfillment of career motives, on work engagement and emotional exhaustion, for both men and women. The effects of work-to-childcare interruptions are, however, different for men compared to women, with only women’s perceived daily balance being negatively affected. Interestingly, men even benefit from some positive effects of these interruptions, which allow them to experience more daily authenticity and challenge. Our qualitative findings help to interpret these findings by suggesting gender motive differences with women reporting more relational and (to a smaller extent) uncertainty related work motives. The interview data also illustrate how various approaches to the division of household labor and boundary management may contribute to gendered interruption experiences. Overall, these findings illustrate how the daily experiences of teleworkers can contribute to growing gender gaps in terms of career and wellbeing.
Coming up with creative ideas is not easy. In this conceptual article, we integrate organizational behavior, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience literatures to propose that different forms of attention may be a key to maximizing creative usefulness and novelty. Specifically, we develop a neurocognitive framework of attentional control to propose differential pathways from creative goal‐directed attention (a narrow and selective focus) to deliberate information processing, and from undirected attention (a wide and unconstrained focus) to spontaneous information processing. These propositions have implications for creative usefulness and novelty, respectively—namely, that creative goal‐directed attention should facilitate the usefulness of creative outputs to a greater extent than their novelty, whereas undirected attention should promote the novelty of creative outputs to a greater extent than their usefulness. Our framework further suggests that time spent experiencing creative goal‐directed attention followed by undirected attention is the optimal sequence for maximizing both the usefulness and novelty of creative outputs. In combination, our framework advances theoretical understanding of attentional pathways to creative outcomes and offers practical implications for maximizing creative potential at work.
Studies commonly highlight the informational upside of a board of directors’ connections to its external environment. Through their seats on multiple outside boards, directors are positioned to bring valuable informational resources to complex internal tasks on a focal firm. Crafting an ambidextrous strategic orientation is such a task, requiring great informational resourcing from a board to reconcile contradictions of exploration and exploitation. Yet, we assign an important boundary condition to this expectation by unpacking the idea of “busyness” as an important consideration in a board’s (in)ability to apply their informational resources. We complement Resource Dependence Theory with insights from bounded rationality and bounded reliability, to challenge the “more is better” assumption of the benefits of outside board seats. We develop corresponding hypotheses on the extent to which busyness of different director types (exemplified here via the busyness of non-executives, executives, and women directors) is related to the ambidextrous strategic orientation of a firm. Our results from a robust longitudinal panel analysis of publicly listed UK firms uncover complex patterns and provide evidence that boards with busy non-executives have a negative influence on the ambidextrous strategic orientation of firms, whereas boards with busy executive directors do not seem to exert an influence. We further find that boards with busy women directors show an inverted U-shaped relation with ambidextrous strategic orientation. We discuss implications for theory and practice.
Students usually describe the work process at the university as chaotic. There are many courses with different topics and many students with interests known or unknown to their peers and professors. All-nighters are still more than an exception, and often such practices continue even after graduation during work in the office. In the architectural profession, time planning stands out as one of the project planning components that significantly impact the project's (financial) outcome. The 5th-year Project Management (PM) course discussed in this article intends to acquaint students with PM processes (scope, schedule/time, cost, quality, resources, communication, and risks) through the application and development of awareness of their impact on scheduling and time management. By applying the PM process, the students initiate, plan, execute, control, supervise, close their work in the final semester of studies, and submit a seminar paper as a self-assessment of the execution. With thorough planning and execution of the plan, it is possible to improve efficiency and speed up the decision-making process without affecting quality. Decision-making is a disadvantage during students’ work due to the lack of experience, resulting in uncertainty and indecisiveness that consume time. The introduction of PM courses in the earlier years of study and the application of the PM process can positively affect the quality of studies, student satisfaction, and the adoption of productive habits as a positive contribution to the progress and improvement of students’ efficiency in later work.
Purpose
The study aims to explore the conditional relationships between product modularization and new product development (NPD) efficiency. It is postulated that R&D outsourcing plays an important mediating role. Furthermore, the level of competency trust is considered an essential factor in moderating the indirect effect of product modularization on NPD efficiency via R&D outsourcing practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on transaction cost economics theory, this study suggests a moderated mediation model that addresses how product modularization effectively promotes NPD efficiency via outsourcing practices. The hierarchical regression and PROCESS macro model were conducted to test the hypotheses based on survey data from 273 manufacturing firms in China.
Findings
Product modularization enhances NPD efficiency directly and indirectly through the external collaboration of R&D outsourcing. Furthermore, the role of product modularization in R&D outsourcing practices is more effective when the competency trust in R&D outsourcing partners is high.
Originality/value
By showing the critical role of external collaboration, this study provides valuable insights into how manufacturing firms utilize product modularization to achieve desired NPD performance more effectively.
In a first experiment, subjects verbalizing the stream of consciousness for a 5-min period were asked to try not to think of a white bear, but to ring a bell in case they did. As indicated both by mentions and by bell rings, they were unable to suppress the thought as instructed. On being asked after this suppression task to think about the white bear for a 5-min period, these subjects showed significantly more tokens of thought about the bear than did subjects who were asked to think about a white bear from the outset. These observations suggest that attempted thought suppression has paradoxical effects as a self-control strategy, perhaps even producing the very obsession or preoccupation that it is directed against. A second experiment replicated these findings and showed that subjects given a specific thought to use as a distracter during suppression were less likely to exhibit later preoccupation with the thought to be suppressed.
In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The concept and measurement of commitment to goals, a key aspect of goal-setting theory, are discussed. The strength of the relationship between commitment and performance is asserted to depend on the amount of variance in commitment. Three major categories of determinants of commitment are discussed: external factors (authority, peer influence, external rewards), interactive factors (participation and competition), and internal factors (expectancy, internal rewards). Applications of these ideas are made and new research directions are suggested.
This study of the complete life-spans of eight naturally-occurring teams began with the unexpected finding that several project groups, studied for another purpose, did not accomplish their work by progressing gradually through a universal series of stages, as traditional group development models would predict. Instead, teams progressed in a pattern of "punctuated equilibrium" through alternating inertia and revolution in the behaviors and themes through which they approached their work. The findings also suggested that groups' progress was triggered more by members' awareness of time and deadlines than by completion of an absolute amount of work in a specific developmental stage. The paper proposes a new model of group development that encompasses the timing and mechanisms of change as well as groups' dynamic relations with their contexts. Implications for theory, research, and practice are drawn.
Assessed the effects of individuals' proneness to cognitive interference on performance following failure. Ss responded to a questionnaire tapping proneness to cognitive interference and were exposed to either no feedback or failure. On completing these problems, Ss performed a cognitive task in which the memory load was varied systematically. The cognitive interference theory successfully predicted most of the group differences: (a) Only the performance of Ss with a habitual tendency to engage in off-task cognitions was debilitated by failure; (b) this performance impairment was only observed in performance accuracy in the high memory load version of the task; and (c) performance accuracy was associated with the frequency of off-task cognitions in the experiment. Results were discussed in terms of the cognitive interference interpretation of learned helplessness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
[the terms ruminative thoughts or rumination] refer to a class of conscious thoughts that revolve around a common instrumental theme and that recur in the absence of immediate environmental demands requiring the thoughts / propose a formal definition of rumination and a theoretical model / the model addresses [goals and other] factors that initiate and terminate rumination as well as those that influence its content / the model also outlines some of the consequences of rumination for a variety of cognitive, affective, and behavioral phenomena / believe the model not only suggests a way in which to integrate what are currently separate yet related literature on ruminative phenomena (e.g., meaning analysis, daydreaming, problem solving, reminiscence, anticipation) but also suggests directions for future research / present evidence for some of the model's assumptions and then discuss some consequences of rumination
varieties of conscious thought / the mechanisms of rumination / additional considerations [the relation between affect and rumination, individual differences, is the model falsifiable] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Proposes an integrative theoretical framework for studying psychological aspects of incentive relationships. During the time that an incentive is behaviorally salient, an organism is especially responsive to incentive-related cues. This sustained sensitivity requires postulating a continuing state (denoted by a construct, current concern) with a definite onset (commitment) and offset (consummation or disengagement). Disengagement follows frustration, accompanies the behavioral process of extinction, and involves an incentive-disengagement cycle of invigoration, aggression, depression, and recovery. Depression is thus a normal part of disengagement that may be either adaptive or maladaptive for the individual but is probably adaptive for the species. Implications for motivation; etiology, symptomatology, and treatment of depression; drug use; and other social problem areas are discussed. (41/2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The intention-superiority effect is the finding that response latencies are faster for items related to an uncompleted intention as compared with materials that have no associated intentionality. T. Goschke and J. Kuhl (1993) used recognition latency for simple action scripts to document this effect. We used a lexical-decision task to replicate that shorter latencies were associated with uncompleted intentions as compared with neutral materials (Experiments 1 and 3). Experiments 2–4, however, demonstrated that latencies were longer for completed scripts as compared with neutral materials. In Experiment 4, shorter latencies were also obtained for partially completed scripts. The results are discussed in terms of the activation and inhibition that may guide behavior, as well as how these results may inform theories of prospective memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Person perception includes three sequential processes: categorization (what is the actor doing?), characterization (what trait does the action imply?), and correction (what situational constraints may have caused the action?). We argue that correction is less automatic (i.e., more easily disrupted) than either categorization or characterization. In Experiment 1, subjects observed a target behave anxiously in an anxiety-provoking situation. In Experiment 2, subjects listened to a target read a political speech that he had been constrained to write. In both experiments, control subjects used information about situational constraints when drawing inferences about the target, but cognitively busy subjects (who performed an additional cognitive task during encoding) did not. The results (a) suggest that person perception is a combination of lower and higher order processes that differ in their susceptibility to disruption and (b) highlight the fundamental differences between active and passive perceivers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The question of how affect arises and what affect indicates is examined from a feedback-based viewpoint on self-regulation. Using the analogy of action control as the attempt to diminish distance to a goal, a second feedback system is postulated that senses and regulates the rate at which the action-guiding system is functioning. This second system is seen as responsible for affect. Implications of these assertions and issues that arise from them are addressed in the remainder of the article. Several issues relate to the emotion model itself; others concern the relation between negative emotion and disengagement from goals. Relations to 3 other emotion theories are also addressed. The authors conclude that this view on affect is a useful supplement to other theories and that the concept of emotion is easily assimilated to feedback models of self-regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Two studies with 182 White female college students investigated the effects of cognitive busyness on the activation and application of stereotypes. In Exp 1, not-busy Ss who were exposed to an Asian target showed evidence of stereotype activation, but busy Ss (who rehearsed an 8-digit number during their exposure) did not. In Exp 2, cognitive busyness once again inhibited the activation of stereotypes about Asians. However, when stereotype activation was allowed to occur, busy Ss (who performed a visual search task during their exposure) were more likely to apply these activated stereotypes than were not-busy Ss. Together, these findings suggest that cognitive busyness may decrease the likelihood that a particular stereotype will be activated but increase the likelihood that an activated stereotype will be applied. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Three experiments investigated whether visual search tasks can be combined without cost. A total of 8 university students searched for 1 target character in a series of 12 rapidly presented frames. The type of processing, controlled or automatic (CP or AP, respectively), was manipulated by requiring search for variably mapped (VM) or consistently mapped (CM) target and distractor sets. Conditions included VM-only search (CP), CM-only search (AP), and simultaneous CM/VM search. Joint automatic and controlled search with emphasis on the controlled search task produced no loss of detection sensitivity in either task but did produce a large criterion shift in the automatic search task. Without instructional emphasis on the controlled search task, controlled search deteriorated. Ss also showed a tendency to waste CP resources when performing AP. AP became less resource demanding with practice. However, CP was always sensitive to resource reductions. Results show that Ss can sometimes perform dual search tasks without noticeable deficit when one of the tasks is automatic. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The tendency to "bask in reflected glory" (BIRG) by publicly announcing one's associations with successful others was investigated in 3 field experiments with more than 300 university students. All 3 studies showed this effect to occur even though the person striving to bask in the glory of a successful source was not involved in the cause of the source's success. Exp I demonstrated the BIRG phenomenon by showing a greater tendency for university students to wear school-identifying apparel after their school's football team had been victorious than nonvictorious. Exps II and III replicated this effect by showing that students used the pronoun we more when describing victory than a nonvictory of their school's football team. A model was developed asserting that the BIRG response represents an attempt to enhance one's public image. Exps II and III indicated, in support of this assertion, that the tendency to proclaim a connection with a positive source was strongest when one's public image was threatened. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Two central constructs of applied psychology, motivation and cognitive ability, were integrated within an information-processing (IPR) framework. This framework simultaneously considers individual differences in cognitive abilities, self-regulatory processes of motivation, and IPR demands. Evidence for the framework is provided in the context of skill acquisition, in which IPR and ability demands change as a function of practice, training paradigm, and timing of goal setting (GS). Three field-based lab experiments were conducted with 1,010 US Air Force trainees. Exp 1 evaluated the basic ability–performance parameters of the air traffic controller task and GS effects early in practice. Exp 2 evaluated GS later in practice. Exp 3 investigated the simultaneous effects of training content, GS and ability–performance interactions. Results support the theoretical framework and have implications for notions of ability–motivation interactions and design of training and motivation programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the effects of time limits and task types on the quality and quantity of group performance and patterns of group interaction. 344 undergraduates participated in 4-S group sessions in which they were required to generate a written story, a plan of action, or a summary of a discussion. Results were interpreted in terms of social entrainment, a concept that refers to the altering of social rhythms or patterns by external conditions (such as time limits) and to the persistence of new rhythms over time. Groups performed 2 tasks of a single-task type for 2 trials of different durations (10 min followed by 20 min or 20 min followed by 10 min). Tasks of 3 types (production, discussion, planning) were used, each requiring an essay-type solution. Task products were assessed for both quantity and quality. Measures of group interaction patterns were taken by categorizing a systematic time sample of the comments of group members. Results indicate that groups with a 20-min 1st trial produced products that were higher in both quality and quantity (but not rate) and engaged in proportionally more interpersonal activity during interaction than did groups that had a 10-min 1st trial. Further, those same groups persisted in the same patterns of interaction (and, to a much lesser extent, patterns of task performance) on the 2nd trial, despite changes in the time limit on that latter trial. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Conducted 2 experiments with a total of 100 male undergraduates in a laboratory bargaining simulation to investigate 3 hypotheses about the effect of 1 bargainer's concessions on the concessions of the opposing bargainer. Results indicate that Ss conceded more when the programed opponent made small concessions than when the opponent made large concessions (Exp I). The effect of the opponent's concessions on S's concessions appeared to be mediated by S's aspiration level. S's aspiration level, concessions, and perception of the opponent's strength were affected by the degree of time pressure (Ss were limited to 5-8 offers) and the S's knowledge of the opponent's payoffs as well as by the opponent's offers (Exp II). Discrepancies with previous studies are discussed. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Tested the hypotheses that goal acceptance moderates the relationship of goal difficulty to task performance as follows: (a) The relationship is positive and linear for accepted goals; (b) it is negative and linear if the goal is rejected; and thus, (c) slope reversal from positively to negatively linear relationships is associated with transition from positive to negative values of goal acceptance. The experiment was a within-S design, allowing for high variance in acceptance, with technicians and engineers (21–50 yrs of age) divided at random into a 2-phase experimental condition (
n = 104) with specific goal difficulty gradually increasing from Trial 1 to 7 and a control group (
n = 36) with the general instructions to "do your best." Instructions for Phase 2 differed from Phase 1 in that Ss were instructed to reassess their acceptance of difficult goals. The task consisted of determining, within 2-min trials, how many digits or letters in a row were the same as the circled one to the left of each row. Results support the hypotheses. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The accessibility of suppressed thoughts was compared with the accessibility of thoughts on which Ss were consciously trying to concentrate. In Exp 1, Ss made associations to word prompts as they tried to suppress thinking about a target word (e.g.,
house) or tried to concentrate on that word. Under the cognitive load imposed by time pressure, they gave the target word in response to target-related prompts (e.g.,
home) more often during suppression than during concentration. In Exp 2, reaction times (RTs) for naming colors of words were found to be greater under conditions of cognitive load when Ss were asked to suppress thinking of the word than under conditions of no cognitive load or when Ss were asked to concentrate on the word. The results support the idea that an automatic search for the suppression target increases the accessibility of the target during suppression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Developed and validated the Need for Cognition Scale (NCS). In Study 1, a pool of items was administered to 96 faculty members (high-need-for-cognition group) and assembly line workers (low-need-for-cognition group). Ambiguity, irrelevance, and internal consistency were used to select items for subsequent studies. Factor analysis yielded one major factor. In Study 2, the NCS and the Group Embedded Figures Test were administered to 419 undergraduates to validate the factor structure and to determine whether the NCS tapped a construct distinct from test anxiety and cognitive style. The factor structure was replicated, and responses to the NCS were weakly related to cognitive style and unrelated to test anxiety. In Study 3, 104 undergraduates completed the NCS, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and a dogmatism scale. Results indicate that need for cognition was related weakly and negatively to being closeminded, unrelated to social desirability, and positively correlated with general intelligence. Study 4 (97 undergraduates) furnished evidence of the predictive validity of the NCS. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This chapter examines the role of time pressure in negotiation and mediation. Negotiation can be defined as discussion between two or more parties and joint decision making with the goal of reaching agreement. Mediation is a variation on negotiation in which one or more outsiders (“third parties”) assist the parties in their efforts to reach agreement.
The fundamental phenomenon of human closed-mindedness is treated in this volume. Prior psychological treatments of closed-mindedness have typically approached it from a psychodynamic perspective and have viewed it in terms of individual pathology. By contrast, the present approach stresses the epistemic functionality of closed-mindedness and its essential role in judgement and decision-making. Far from being restricted to a select group of individuals suffering from an improper socialization, closed-mindedness is something we all experience on a daily basis. Such mundane situational conditions as time pressure, noise, fatigue, or alcoholic intoxication, for example, are all known to increase the difficulty of information processing, and may contribute to one's experienced need for nonspecific closure. Whether constituting a dimension of stable individual differences, or being engendered situationally - the need for closure, once aroused, is shown to produce the very same consequences. These fundamentally include the tendency to 'seize' on early, closure-affording 'evidence', and to 'freeze' upon it thus becoming impervious to subsequent, potentially important, information. Though such consequences form a part of the individual's personal experience, they have significant implications for interpersonal, group and inter-group phenomena as well. The present volume describes these in detail and grounds them in numerous research findings of theoretical and 'real world' relevance to a wide range of topics including stereotyping, empathy, communication, in-group favouritism and political conservatism. Throughout, a distinction is maintained between the need for a nonspecific closure (i.e., any closure as long as it is firm and definite) and needs for specific closures (i.e., for judgments whose particular contents are desired by an individual). Theory and research discussed in this book should be of interest to upper level undergraduates, graduate students and faculty in social, cognitive, and personality psychology as well as in sociology, political science and business administration.
The question of how affect arises and what affect indicates is examined from a feedback-based viewpoint on self-regulation. Using the analogy of action control as the attempt to diminish distance to a goal, a second feedback system is postulated that senses and regulates the rate at which the action-guiding system is functioning. This second system is seen as responsible for affect. Implications of these assertions and issues that arise from them are addressed in the remainder of the article. Several issues relate to the emotion model itself; others concern the relation between negative emotion and disengagement from goals. Relations to 3 other emotion theories are also addressed. The authors conclude that this view on affect is a useful supplement to other theories and that the concept of emotion is easily assimilated to feedback models of self-regulation.
The intention-superiority effect is the finding that response latencies are faster for items related to an uncompleted intention as compared with materials that have no associated intentionality. T. Goschke and J. Kuhl(1993) used recognition latency for simple action scripts to document this effect. We used a lexical-decision task to replicate that shorter latencies were associated with uncompleted intentions as compared with neutral materials (Experiments 1 and 3). Experiments 2-4, however, demonstrated that latencies were longer for completed scripts as compared with neutral materials. In Experiment 3, shorter latencies were also obtained for partially completed scripts. The results are discussed in terms of the activation and inhibition that may guide behavior, as well as how these results may inform theories of prospective memory.
The present research was designed to examine the impact of temporal constraints on group interaction and performance. Thirty-six triads worked on one of two planning tasks under conditions of time scarcity, optimal time, or time abundance. Group interactions were videotaped and coded using the TEMPO system. Each group's written solution was rated on length, originality, creativity, adequacy, issue involvement, quality of presentation, optimism, and action orientation. Each proposal suggested during the interaction was rated on creativity and adequacy. Interaction process data showed that time limits were inversely related to the amount of task focus shown by groups. Performance data showed that the effects of time limits on group performance varied depending on what aspects of quality were considered. Process-performance relationships were also examined within each time condition. The findings are discussed in terms of an attentional focus model of time limits and group performance.
This study began with the premise that people can use varying degrees of their selves. physically. cognitively. and emotionally. in work role performances. which has implications for both their work and experi ences. Two qualitative. theory-generating studies of summer camp counselors and members of an architecture firm were conducted to explore the conditions at work in which people personally engage. or express and employ their personal selves. and disengage. or withdraw and defend their personal selves. This article describes and illustrates three psychological conditions-meaningfulness. safety. and availabil ity-and their individual and contextual sources. These psychological conditions are linked to existing theoretical concepts. and directions for future research are described. People occupy roles at work; they are the occupants of the houses that roles provide. These events are relatively well understood; researchers have focused on "role sending" and "receiving" (Katz & Kahn. 1978). role sets (Merton. 1957). role taking and socialization (Van Maanen. 1976), and on how people and their roles shape each other (Graen. 1976). Researchers have given less attention to how people occupy roles to varying degrees-to how fully they are psychologically present during particular moments of role performances. People can use varying degrees of their selves. physically, cognitively, and emotionally. in the roles they perform. even as they main tain the integrity of the boundaries between who they are and the roles they occupy. Presumably, the more people draw on their selves to perform their roles within those boundaries. the more stirring are their performances and the more content they are with the fit of the costumes they don. The research reported here was designed to generate a theoretical frame work within which to understand these "self-in-role" processes and to sug gest directions for future research. My specific concern was the moments in which people bring themselves into or remove themselves from particular task behaviors, My guiding assumption was that people are constantly bring ing in and leaving out various depths of their selves during the course of The guidance and support of David Berg, Richard Hackman, and Seymour Sarason in the research described here are gratefully acknowledged. I also greatly appreciated the personal engagements of this journal's two anonymous reviewers in their roles, as well as the comments on an earlier draft of Tim Hall, Kathy Kram, and Vicky Parker.
Thirty six subjects chose individually between pairs of gambles under three time pressure conditions: High (8 seconds), Medium (16 seconds) and Low (32 seconds). The gambles in each pair were equated for expected value but differed in variance, amounts to win and lose and their respective probabilities. Information about each dimension could be obtained by the subject sequentially according to his preference.The results show that subjects are less risky under High as compared to Medium and Low time pressure, risk taking being measured by choices of gambles with lower variance or lower amounts to lose and win. Subjects tended to spend more time observing the negative dimensions (amount to lose and probability of losing), whereas under low time pressure they preffered observing their positive counterparts. Information preference was found to be related to choices.Filtration of information and acceleration of its processing appear to be the strategies of coping with time pressure.
Abstract Interruptions are typically considered disruptive for organizational members, hindering their performance,and effectiveness. Although interruptions can have negative effects on work performance, they also can serve in multiple ways as facilitators of performance. In this paper, we discuss four key types of interruptions that have different causes and consequences: intrusions, breaks, distractions, and discrepancies. Each type of interruption can occur during the workday, and each type has different implications for individual effectiveness. We delineate the principle features of each of the four types of interruptions and specify when each kind of interruption is likely to have positive or negative consequences,for the person being interrupted. By discussing in detail the multiple kinds of interruptions and their potential for positive or negative consequences, we provide a means for organizational scholars to treat interruptions and their consequences,in more discriminating ways. 2 Interruptions are generally defined as incidents or occurrences that obstruct or delay organizational members as they attempt to make progress on work tasks and, thus, are typically
Managerial work has been defined as an activity characterized by brevity, fragmentation and occurring at an unrelenting pace. In today's workplaces, fragmented work environments are commonplace for people involved in managerial work, and even for knowledge workers. It seems that support technology is partly to blame in this context: we have created more powerful tools which partly hinder productivity. The purpose of our research is (i) to understand the cause and sources of fragmentation of working time, (ii) provide solutions to reduce interruptions and their effects, (iii) propose guidelines to develop information systems suited for the purposes of the work of knowledge workers.
This article develops the concept of psychological presence to describe the experiential state enabling organization members to draw deeply on their personal selves in role performances, i.e., express thoughts and feelings, question assumptions, innovate. The dimensions of psychological presence are described along with relevant organizational and individual factors. The concept's implications for theory and research about the person-role relationship are described.
Triads, working under time pressure or not, participated in a management simulation that asked groups to decide which of two cholesterol-reducing drugs to market. The total distribution of information available to the group always favored the same drug. However, members’ initial preferences were manipulated by varying the distribution of shared information (provided to all members) and unshared information (provided to only a single member) supporting each alternative. Thus, each member’s fact sheet either (a) favored the correct decision (correct preference condition), (b) mildly favored the incorrect decision (weak incorrect preference condition), or (c) strongly favored the incorrect decision (strong incorrect preference condition). Initial preferences were major determinants of group decisions. Time pressure either enhanced or reduced decision quality depending on the strength of initial preferences and the content of the group interactions. These findings are discussed in light of Karau and Kelly’s Attentional Focus Model of group performance.
Epistemic, freezing, operationalized as impressional primacy, was examined as a function of situationally induced need for cognitive closure (manipulated by varying time pressure) and dispositional introversion-extroversion. Fifty-eight subjects under high or low time pressure predicted the success of a job candidate. Overalll the tendency to use early information in predicting job success increased when time pressure was high. Consistent with predictions, introverts used early information in forming judgments to a greater extent then extraverts when time pressure was high. No significant differences were found between introverts and extraverts when time pressure was low. The results suggest that introverts may be particularly sensitive to situations requiring cognitive closure.
This paper reports an experiment in which the influence of time pressure, the social category of the target person, and emotional responses on impression formation and recognition memory was studied. It was hypothesized that under time pressure, subjects using their stereotype would process information about an outgroup target more easily than information about an ingroup target, would judge these targets more differentially, and would base their judgments of the outgroup target more on their attitudes than in a condition without time pressure. These hypotheses were to a large extent sustained. Results are discussed in terms of current models of impression formation and attitude functioning.
A laboratory experiment examined the effects of time pressure on the process and outcome of integrative bargaining. Time pressure was operationalized in terms of the amount of time available to negotiate. As hypothesized, high time pressure produced nonagreements and poor negotiation outcomes only when negotiators adopted an individualistic orientation; when negotiators adopted a cooperative orientation, they achieved high outcomes regardless of time pressure. In combination with an individualistic orientation, time pressure produced greater competitiveness, firm negotiator aspirations, and reduced information exchange. In combination with a cooperative orientation, time pressure produced greater cooperativeness and lower negotiator aspirations. The main findings were seen as consistent with Pruitt's strategic-choice model of negotiation.
In "Losing Control," the authors provide a single reference source with comprehensive information on general patterns of self-regulation failure across contexts, research findings on specific self-control disorders, and commentary on the clinical and social aspects of self-regulation failure. Self-control is discussed in relation to what the "self" is, and the cognitive, motivational, and emotional factors that impinge on one's ability to control one's "self." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
the purpose of this paper is to review this research [experiments in social perception and interpersonal relations] and to summarize its conclusions and implications / aim is to summarize what we have learned about the "attribution process" as it occurs in social interaction and the facts that affect its course
propositions about information patterns that form the basis for various attributions
consider . . . several types of attribution phenomena in which the attributor makes use of the information at his disposal in a highly reasonable manner
important exceptions, in which the available information is used in systematically biased and even erroneous ways
locus of effect of the covariant cause / temporal relations between cause and effect
multiple plausible causes: the discounting effect / constancy of effect / facilitative versus inhibitory causes / ambiguity as to the significance of external causes / reciprocation of harm and benefit / sincerity, veridicality, and attribution of causality / attributions as mediating variables
less rational attribution tendencies
attribution and control (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Presents an animal model of how learned helplessness may manifest itself as depression and anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This research hypothesizes that greater congruence between preferred polychronicity (the extent to which an individual prefers to be involved with several tasks simultaneously) and experienced work-unit polychronicity (the polychronic behaviors and preferences of the supervisor and co-workers) will be associated with higher levels of (1) three components of organizational commitment (willingness to exert effort, desire to remain a member of the organization, and belief in and acceptance of organizational goals), (2) the individual's perceived performance evaluation by the supervisor and co-workers, and (3) the individual's perceived fairness of the performance evaluation. Based on a sample of employed business school graduates, the results indicate that polychronic congruence is significantly related to these variables in the predicted direction. The use of polynomial regression analysis reveals additional characteristics of the relationships that would not have been available from the analysis of squared-difference scores. The findings support the position that polychronicity and other temporal variables are important factors in organizational research. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss theories of the origin of ruminative thought. We begin by providing a working definition of rumination, separating rumination from other forms of cognitive activity and distinguishing ruminations from ordinary memories. Then, we review what we believe are the major categories of theory that attempt to account for the existence and nature of rumination. These include theories of traumatization, incompleteness, nondisclosure, and thought suppression. Ruminations may originate for a number of reasons, but it seems they may continue because of our attempts to control them. Evidence from studies on thought suppression suggests that the suppression of unwanted thoughts may in fact fuel the very emotions and thoughts we are trying to avoid. Thought suppression may set up a state in which we not only increase the amount we think about an unwanted thought, but potentially also sharpen our emotional reaction to those thoughts.