Event Details

Professor Fay Giæver from NTNU will present a seminar to the Management Science Department

Abstract: The increasingly digital nature of contemporary work environments is characterized by frequent interruptions (Chen & Karahanna 2018; Mark et al., 2016), reduced attention spans (Mark, 2023) and heightened stress levels (Marsh et al., 2022; Rohwer et al., 2022), all of which may contribute to diminished productivity. In response to these challenges employees face a growing need to effectively regulate their experiences. Here, we adopt an emotion regulation framework (Gross, 1999) to explore how smartwatches can improve well-being and ultimately learning and performance in the digital workplace. We propose that smartwatches, with their ability to provide real-time feedback on physiological states, can help individuals develop self-awareness and support the development of appropriate emotion regulation strategies. Drawing on findings from a pilot study conducted with university students and outlining a forthcoming study with employees we explore how participants plan and manage work tasks in conjunction with smartwatch-generated data on emotional arousal. Our research further investigates how emotion regulation evolves over time at the intra-individual level, as participants integrate physiological feedback into their daily routines. Preliminary findings suggest that participants initially lacked awareness of their physiological sensations and emotions and struggled to connect these experiences with their physical and digital work environments. However, with the aid of smartwatch feedback they began to identify patterns in their environments and behavior, enabling a more proactive planning and structuring of work sessions. These insights point to the potential of wearable technology to support emotion regulation and promote more sustainable and productive work practices in digital work environments.

References

Chen, A. & Karahanna, E. (2018).Life Interrupted: The effects of technology-mediated work Interruptions on work and nonwork outcomes. MIS Quarterly, 42(4), 1023–1042. https://doi.org/10.25300/misq/2018/13631

Gross, J. J. (1999). Emotion regulation: past, present, future, Cognition and Emotion, 13 (5): 551-573.

Mark, G., Iqbal, S. T., Czerwinski, M., Johns, P. & Sano, A. (2016). Email duration, batching and self-interruption. Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1717–728. https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858262

Mark, G. (2023). Attention span. A groundbreaking way to restore balance, happiness and productivity. Hanover Square Press.

Marsh, E., Vallejos, E. P. & Spence, A. (2022). The digital workplace and its dark side: An integrative review. Computers in Human Behavior, 128, 107118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107118

Rohwer, E., Fletcher, J.-C., Harth, V. & Mache, S. (2022). Overcoming the “dark side” of technology—A scoping review on preventing and coping with work-related technostress. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(6), 3625. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063625