Experimental evidence for the effects of task repetitiveness on mental strain and objective work performance

Journal of Organizational Behavior

Volumn 35, Issue 5, 2014, Pages 705-721

  Häusser, Jan Alexander ^a   Schulz Hardt, Stefan ^b   Schultze, Thomas ^b   Tomaschek, Anne ^c   Mojzisch, Andreas ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF HILDESHEIM   (Germany)

^b UNIVERSITY OF GÖTTINGEN   (Germany)

^c DRESDEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY   (Germany)

Author keywords

Job design; Job enlargement; Mental strain; Task repetitiveness; Well being; Work performance

Indexed keywords

EID: 84902655828     PISSN: 08943796     EISSN: 10991379     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/job.1920     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. Anderson, C. A., Lindsay, J. J., & Bushman, B. J. (1999). Research in the psychological laboratory: Truth or triviality? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 3-9.
2. Arnold, H. J., & Feldman, D. C. (1981). Social desirability response bias in self-report choice situations. Academy of Management Journal, 24, 377-285.
3. Berkowitz, L., & Donnerstein, E. (1982). External validity is more than skin deep: Some answers to criticisms of laboratory experiments. American Psychologist, 37, 245-257.
4. Billette, A., & Piché, J. (1987). Health problems of data entry clerks and related job stressors. Journal of Occupational Medicine, 29, 942-948.
5. Burnett, I. (1924). An experimental investigation of repetitive work. Journal of the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, 2, 18-23.
6. Caicoya, M., & Delclos, G. L. (2010). Work demands and musculoskeletal disorders from the Spanish National Survey. Occupational Medicine, 60, 447-450.
7. Campion, M. A. (1988). Interdisciplinary approaches to job design: A constructive replication with extensions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 73, 467-481.
8. Cherns, A. (1978). The principles of sociotechnical design. Human Relations, 29, 783-792.
9. Clegg, C. W. (2000). Sociotechnical principles for system design. Applied Ergonomics, 31, 463-477.
10. Cox, T. (1985). Repetitive work: Occupational stress and health. In C.L. Cooper & N.J. Smith (Eds.), Job stress and blue collar work, pp. 85-111. Chichester: Wiley.
11. Cox, S., Cox, T., Thirlaway, M., & Mackay, C. (1982a). Effects of simulated repetitive work on urinary catecholamine excretion. Ergonomics, 25, 1129-1141.
12. Cox, T., Mackay, C., & Page, H. (1982b). Simulated repetitive work and self-reported mood. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 3, 247-252.
13. Daniels, K., Boocock, G., Glover, J., Hartley, R., & Holland, J. (2009). An experience sampling study of learning, affect, and the Demands Control Support model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 1003-1017.
14. Davis, M. C., Challenger, R., Jayewardene, D. N., & Clegg, C. W. (2014). Advancing socio-technical systems thinking: A call for bravery. Applied ergonomics, 45, 171-180.
15. Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 92, 542-575.
16. Donaldson, S. I., & Grant-Vallone, E. J. (2002). Understanding self-report bias in organizational behaviour research. Journal of Business and Psychology, 17, 245-260.
17. Floru, R., Cail, F., & Elias, R. (1985). Psychophysiological changes during a VDU repetitive task. Ergonomics, 28, 1455-1468.
18. Freude, G., Ullsperger, P., & Mölle, M. (1995). Application of Bereitschaftspotential for evaluation of effort expenditure in the course of repetitive display work. Journal of Psychophysiology, 9, 65-75.
19. Gilbreth, F. B. (1911). Motion study: A method for increasing the efficiency of the workman. New York: Van Nostrand.
20. Grant, A. M., & Wall, T.D. (2009). The neglected science and art of quasi-experimentation: Why-to, when-to, and how-to. Advice for organizational researchers. Organizational Research Methods, 12, 653-686.
21. Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the job diagnostic survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 159-170.
22. Hansen, A. M., Kaergaard, A., Andersen, J. H., & Netterstrøm, B. (2003). Associations between repetitive work and endocrinological indicators of stress. Work & Stress, 17, 264-276.
23. Harnois, G. P., & Gabriel, P. (2000). Mental health and work: Impact, issues and good practices. Geneva: published jointly by the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization.
24. Häusser, J. A., Mojzisch, A., Niesel, M., & Schulz-Hardt, S. (2010). Ten years on: A review of recent research on the Job-Demand-Control(-Support) model and psychological well-being. Work & Stress, 24, 1-35.
25. Häusser, J. A., Mojzisch, A., & Schulz-Hardt, S. (2011). Endocrinological and psychological responses to job stressors: An experimental test of the Job-Demand-Control Model. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 36, 1021-1031.
26. Häusser, J. A., Schulz-Hardt, S., & Mojzisch, A. (2013). The active learning hypothesis of the Job-Demand-Control Model: An experimental examination. Ergonomics. doi:10.1080/00140139.2013.854929
27. Hertel, G., Deter, C., & Konradt, U. (2003). Motivation gains in computer-supported groups. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33, 2080-2105.
28. Herzberg, F. (1968). One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review, 46, 53-62.
29. Jensen, C., Ryholt, C. U., Burr, H., Villadsen, E., & Christensen, H. (2002). Work-related psychosocial, physical and individual factors associated with musculoskeletal symptoms in computer users. Work & Stress, 16, 107-120.
30. Johnson, J.V., & Hall, E.M. (1988). Job strain, work place social support, and cardiovascular disease: A cross-sectional study of a random sample of the Swedish working population. American Journal of Public Health, 78, 1336-1342.
31. Karasek, R. A. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 285-308.
32. Knudsen, H. K., Ducharme, L. J., & Roman, P. M. (2007). Job stress and poor sleep quality: Data from an American sample of full-time workers. Social Science & Medicine, 64, 1997-2007.
33. Lewin, K. (1928). Die Bedeutung der psychischen Sättigung für einige Probleme der Psychotechnik. Psychotechnische Zeitschrift, 3, 182-188. [Significance of psychic saturation for some problems in psychotechnics].
34. Lipmann, O. (1928). The human factor in production. Personnel Journal, 7, 87-95.
35. Lundberg, U., & Johansson, G. (2000). Stress and health risks in repetitive work and supervisory monitoring work. In R.W. Backs & W. Boucsein (Eds.), Engineering psychophysiology-Issues and applications, pp. 339-359. Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
36. Lundberg, U., Granqvist, M., Hansson, T., Magnusson, M., & Wallin, L. (1989). Psychological and physiological stress responses during repetitive work at an assembly line. Work & Stress, 3, 143-153.
37. Lundberg, U., Melin, B., Evans, G.W., & Holmberg, L. (1993). Physiological deactivation after two contrasting tasks at a video display terminal: Learning vs. repetitive data entry. Ergonomics, 36, 601-611.
38. Melamed, S., Ben-Avi, I., Luz, J., & Green, M. S. (1995). Repetitive work, work underload and coronary heath disease risk factors among blue-collar workers-The Cordis Study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 39, 19-29.
39. Melin, B., & Lundberg, U. (1997). A biopsychosocial approach to work-stress and musculosketal disorders. Journal of Psychophysiology, 3, 238-247.
40. Melin, B., Lundberg, U., Söderlund, J., & Granqvist, M. (1999). Psychophysiological stress reactions of male and female assembly workers: A comparison between two different forms of work organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 47-61.
41. Mitchell, G. (2012). Revisiting truth or triviality: The external validity of research in the psychological laboratory. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 109-117.
42. Monsell, S. (2003).Task switching. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 134-140.
43. Morgeson, F. P., & Campion, M. A. (2002). Minimizing tradeoffs when redesigning work: Evidence from a longitudinal quasi-experiment. Personnel Psychology, 55, 589-612.
44. Ohsuga, M., Shimono, F., & Genno, H. (2001). Assessment of phasic work stress using autonomic indices. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 40, 211-220.
45. Parker, S. K., Wall, T. D., & Jackson, P. R. (1997). "That's not my job": Developing flexible employee work orientations. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 899-929.
46. Plath, H. E., & Richter, P. (1984). Ermüdung - Monotonie - Sättigung - Stress. BMS. Verfahren zur skalierten Erfassung erlebter Beanspruchungsfolgen. Psychodiagnostisches Zentrum, Berlin. [Experience of Consequences of Stress Scale].
47. Rogers, R. D., & Monsell, S. (1995). The costs of a predictable switch between simple cognitive tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 124, 207-231.
48. Rubinstein, J. S., Meyer, D. E., & Evans, J. E. (2001). Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 27, 763-797.
49. Searle, B., Bright, J. E. H., & Bochner, S. (2001). Helping people to sort it out: The role of social support in the Job Strain Model. Work & Stress, 15, 328-346.
50. Smith, A. (1776). An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.
51. Smith, K. R. (1938). Age and performance on a repetitive manual task. Journal of Applied Psychology, 22, 295-306.
52. Taylor, F. W. (1911). The principles of scientific management. New York: Norton.
53. Theorell, T.G., & Karasek, R.A. (1996). Current issues relating to psychosocial job strain and cardiovascular disease research. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 1, 9-26.
54. Thorndike, E. L. (1898). Animal intelligence: An experimental study of the associative processes in animals. Psychological Review Monograph Supplement, 2, 1-109.
55. Vanroelen, C., Levecque, K., Moors, G., Gadeyne, S., & Louckx, F. (2009). The structuring of occupational stressors in a Post-Fordist work environment. Moving beyond traditional accounts of demand, control and support. Social Science & Medicine, 68, 1082-1090.
56. Weber, A., Fussler, C., O'Hanlon, J., Gierer, R., & Granjean, E. (1980). Psychophysiological effects of repetitive tasks. Ergonomics, 23, 1033-1046.
57. Yeung, N., & Monsell, S. (2003). Switching between tasks of unequal familiarity: The role of stimulus-attribute and response-set selection. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 29, 455-469.