European and International sustainable development agendas aim to reduce inequalities in working conditions and work-related health, yet disparate occupational health outcomes are evident between ...both men and women and domestic- and foreign-born workers. In Sweden, major growth in online retail warehousing has increased occupational opportunities for foreign-born workers. The rapid change has left research lagging on working conditions, i.e., employment conditions, facility design, work organisation, physical and psychosocial work environment conditions, and their effects on worker health. Further, no known studies have considered patterns of inequality related to these factors. The overall aim of this study is to describe working conditions and musculoskeletal health in online retail warehousing, determine the extent to which differences exist related to sex/gender and place of birth (as a proxy for race/ethnicity), and examine factors at the organisational and individual levels to understand why any differences exist. Three online retail warehouses, each employing 50-150 operations workers performing receiving, order picking, order packing and dispatching tasks will be recruited. Warehouses will, to the extent possible, differ in their extent of digital technology use. Employment conditions, facility design (including digital tool use), work organisation, physical and psychosocial work environment conditions and worker health will be assessed by survey, interview and technical measurements. Analysis of quantitative data stratified by sex and place of birth will consider the extent to which inequalities exist. Focus group interviews with operations employees and in-depth interviews with managers, union and health and safety representatives will be conducted to assess how employee working conditions and musculoskeletal health are related to inequality regimes of sex/gender and/or race/ethnicity in organisational processes and practices in online retail warehousing. The study is pre-registered with the Open Science Framework. This study will describe working conditions and health in online retail warehouse workers and consider the extent to which patterns of inequality exist based on sex/gender and place of birth.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The nature of the task that leads a person to engage in information interaction, as well as of information seeking and searching tasks, have been shown to influence individuals’ information behavior. ...Classifying tasks in a domain has been viewed as a departure point of studies on the relationship between tasks and human information behavior. However, previous task classification schemes either classify tasks with respect to the requirements of specific studies or merely classify a certain category of task. Such approaches do not lead to a holistic picture of task since a task involves different aspects. Therefore, the present study aims to develop a faceted classification of task, which can incorporate work tasks and information search tasks into the same classification scheme and characterize tasks in such a way as to help people make predictions of information behavior. For this purpose, previous task classification schemes and their underlying facets are reviewed and discussed. Analysis identifies essential facets and categorizes them into Generic facets of task and Common attributes of task. Generic facets of task include Source of task, Task doer, Time, Action, Product, and Goal. Common attributes of task includes Task characteristics and User’s perception of task. Corresponding sub-facets and values are identified as well. In this fashion, a faceted classification of task is established which could be used to describe users’ work tasks and information search tasks. This faceted classification provides a framework to further explore the relationships among work tasks, search tasks, and interactive information retrieval and advance adaptive IR systems design.
Burnout has been defined as a condition in which individuals are left exhausted by a long‐term confrontation with unmanageable job stressors. The question of whether burnout reflects anything other ...than depressive responses to unresolvable stress remains an object of debate. In this 911‐participant study (83% female; mean age: 42.36), we further addressed the issue of burnout‐depression overlap. Burnout was assessed with the exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory‐General Survey (MBI‐GS) and depression with the PHQ‐8. The relationships of burnout and depression with three job‐related variables – illegitimate work tasks, work‐nonwork interference, and job satisfaction – and three “context‐free” variables – social support, general health status, and trait anxiety – were examined. Burnout and depression were found to be strongly correlated, to cluster together, and to exhibit overlapping nomological networks. Remarkably, the average correlations of burnout and depression with job‐related variables were almost identical. A principal component analysis and a principal axis factor analysis both showed that the items of the MBI‐GS and of the PHQ‐8 loaded on a single dimension. All in all, our findings are consistent with the view that burnout is a depressive condition. The distinction between burnout and depression may be an instance of the jangle fallacy.
Against the backdrop of COVID‐19 pandemic, we draw on family systems theory to elucidate how daily work‐from‐home status (WFH) affects both members in dual‐earner couples. We propose that the WFH ...exerts intra‐individual and inter‐individual influences on employees’ and their partners’ work task and family task completion and their subsequent reactions to their work and family experiences. We examined the hypothesized relationships with two daily survey studies on dual‐earner couples conducted during the pandemic (i.e., 1,559 daily responses of 165 dual‐earner couples from China in Study 1, and 773 daily responses of 57 dual‐earner couples from South Korea in Study 2). The two studies provide converging results that working from home (vs. office) increased employees’ family task completion for both husbands and wives and that wives working from home (vs. office) decreased husbands’ family task completion. Further, in both studies, daily work task completion increased felt guilt toward family (for wives only) through increased work‐family conflict, and daily family task completion increased psychological withdrawal from work through increased family‐work conflict for both husbands and wives. Moreover, we found in Study 2 that on days when husbands had flexible work schedule, wives completed more work tasks when working from home (vs. office) and that on days when wives had inflexible work arrangement, husbands completed more family tasks when working from home (vs. office). Across the two studies, there were no clear gender‐difference patterns in husbands’ and wives’ work and family experiences.
This study examined the mediating role of work task motivation (WTM) in the relationship between psychological capital (PsyCap) and teacher well-being (TWB) in the higher educational context of ...Ethiopia. The Psychological Capital Questionnaire-12 (PCQ-12), Work Task Motivation Scale for Teachers (WTMST), and Teacher Well-Being Scale (TWBS) were used to collect and analyzed data from a sample of 596 university teachers employed at Ethiopia?s Amhara Regional State Universities. The results indicated that PsyCap had a direct and positive effect on WTM (? = 0.374, CI 95% 0.271, 474, p < .001) and TWB (? = 0.298, CI 95% 0.150, 0.430, p < .001). WTM also has a direct and positive impact on TWB (? = 0.472 CI 95% .003, .481, p < .05). Besides, WTM fully mediated the relationship between PsyCap and TWB (? = 0.110, CI 95% 0.006, 0.206, p < 0.05). We also found that PsyCap intrinsic motivation identified regulation directly and positively, whereas external, introjected regulation, and amotivation negatively and directly predicted TWB. Finally, the dimensions of WT (intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, external regulation, and introjected regulation and amotivation)partially mediated the relationships between PsyCap and dimensions of TWB (workload, organizational, and student interaction well-being).
Muscle fatigue is a risk factor for developing musculoskeletal disorders during low-load repetitive tasks. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of muscle fatigue on power spectrum ...changes of upper limb and trunk acceleration and angular velocity during a repetitive pointing task (RPT) and a work task. Twenty-four participants equipped with 11 inertial measurement units, that include acceleration and gyroscope sensors, performed a tea bag filling work task before and immediately after a fatiguing RPT. During the RPT, the power spectrum of acceleration and angular velocity increased in the movement and in 6–12 Hz frequency bands for sensors positioned on the head, sternum, and pelvis. Alternatively, for the sensor positioned on the hand, the power spectrum of acceleration and angular velocity decreased in the movement frequency band. During the work task, following the performance of the fatiguing RPT, the power spectrum of acceleration and angular velocity increased in the movement frequency band for sensors positioned on the head, sternum, pelvis, and arm. Interestingly, for both the RPT and work task, Cohens’ d effect sizes were systematically larger for results extracted from angular velocity than acceleration. Although fatigue-related changes were task-specific between the RPT and the work task, fatigue systematically increased the power spectrum in the movement frequency band for the head, sternum, pelvis, which highlights the relevance of this indicator for assessing fatigue. Angular velocity may be more efficient to assess fatigue than acceleration. The use of low cost, wearable, and uncalibrated sensors, such as acceleration and gyroscope, in industrial settings is promising to assess muscle fatigue in workers assigned to upper limb repetitive tasks.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine information-seeking behavior (ISB) of strategic planners in enterprise across different work-task types and stages.
Design/methodology/approach
A case ...study was conducted in a pharmaceutical company in China, labeled as T Company. One of the authors worked in the department of strategic planning of this company as an intern. The data were collected via participant observation and unstructured in-depth interviews. Open coding was performed to analyze the data.
Findings
Four work-task stages were identified: project preparation, gathering, discovery and presentation, and strategy formulation. The results indicate that work-task types, work-task stages, and strategic planners’ work role or position affect their information needs, source selection, and seeking process. Task complexity, task familiarity, and task goal are of the most important task attributes that directly shape strategic planners’ ISB. Work role determines the extent to which strategic planners can access the information of the company. Internal information has priority, but external information is also important when internal information is not sufficient; both are equally important for strategic planning projects. Social media has been a very important channel to access, disseminate and share information. Workshops are an important approach to producing final project reports. Face-to-face discussion and information exchange play a critical role in the formulation of new strategies.
Research limitations/implications
This is a case study with data collected from only one company in China. Some of the results may not be generalizable. However, it adds new knowledge to ISB research in enterprise, informs people how to provide better information services for strategic planners, and informs MBA education for students’ better information-seeking skills.
Originality/value
Though myriad studies on ISB, little research has been done to examine strategic planners’ ISB from a business context, especially taking into account the effect of work-task types and stages.
The present research aimed to test an Amharic version of the multi-dimensional Work Task Motivation Scale for Teachers (WTMST), which measures the five pillars of university instructors’ motivation ...toward teaching and student evaluation tasks based on self-determination theory (SDT). Therefore, the WTMST offers the first instrument to measure all five motivational elements, and today it is one of the most applicable instruments to assess teachers’ motivation. An Amharic version of the WTMST for teaching and student evaluation tasks was adopted and assessed in large-scale data (N=1,117). Our findings demonstrate excellent reliability and construct validity (convergent, discriminant, divergent and factorial). Besides, the results of the model comparisons provided that out of the four theoretically competing models (single-order factor, correlated factor, higher-order factor and bi-factor models), the bi-factor model was the most-fitted one used for measurement invariance across various groups. Results also suggest that the factor structure of the WTMST for both teaching and student evaluation tasks demonstrate consistency across gender (men, women), university types (research, applied, and general university), age and experience in teaching. Therefore, the WTMST for teaching and student evaluation tasks may be valid in Ethiopian higher education settings.
Cognitive and brain aging is strongly influenced by everyday settings such as work demands. Long-term exposure to low job complexity, for instance, has detrimental effects on cognitive functioning ...and regional gray matter (GM) volume. Brain and cognition, however, are also characterized by plasticity. We postulate that the experience of novelty (at work) is one important trigger of plasticity. We investigated the cumulative effect of recurrent exposure to work-task changes (WTC) at low levels of job complexity on GM volume and cognitive functioning of middle-aged production workers across a time window of 17 years. In a case-control study, we found that amount of WTC was associated with better processing speed and working memory as well as with more GM volume in brain regions that have been associated with learning and that show pronounced age-related decline. Recurrent novelty at work may serve as an '
' intervention that helps counteracting debilitating long-term effects of low job complexity.
The advent of smartphones, coupled with mobile computing technology, provides construction engineers with unprecedented opportunities to improve the existing processes of on-site construction ...management. Capitalizing on smartphone technology, this study aimed to develop an effective on-site management system. The system was focused on three important functions of on-site management: site monitoring, task management, and real-time information sharing. For system development, various component technologies, such as wireless communication, augmented reality, and client–server database, were utilized to efficiently manage, transfer, and visualize project information on a mobile computing platform. The applicability of the mobile system was verified on a real building construction site. This study contributed to the body of knowledge by illustrating how mobile computing technology embodied in smartphones can be used to streamline on-site construction management. The proposed system is expected to assist construction engineers in achieving a high level of productivity and efficiency.
•This study aims to develop a mobile system for on-site construction management.•System includes site monitoring, task management and real-time information sharing.•The mobile system is expected to streamline the existing on-site management processes.
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