Trusting information systems in everyday work events - effects on cognitive resources, performance, and well-being.

In today's data-intensive work environments, information systems are crucial for supporting workers. However, workers often do not rely on these systems but resort to workarounds. We argue that trust is essential for workers' reliance on information systems, positively affecting workers' cognitive resources, performance, and well-being. Moreover, we argue that the organisational context (accountability, distractions) and user-related factors qualify trust-outcome associations by affecting workers' trust calibration. In a preregistered study, we asked N = 291 employed users of information systems to re-experience prior everyday usage events (event reconstruction method) and assess event-specific trust in the system, work outcomes, and context conditions. Results confirmed the assumed association between trust in the information system and workers' ratings of both performance and well-being. Moreover, workers' technology competence and need for cognition - but not contextual conditions - qualified trust-outcome associations. Our results offer specific suggestions for achieving successful use of information systems at work.

This preregistered study with 291 employees demonstrates the importance of trust in information systems for workers' performance and well-being in everyday work events. User-related factors, namely, users' technology competence and need for cognition, further qualified these effects. Practical implications for active trust management are drawn.

Long-term effects of COVID-19 on work routines and organizational culture - A case study within higher education's administration.

As a sudden, external event, the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly disrupted the workplace and required organizations to digitalize their working approaches. To understand how such external events affect organizations in the short- and long-term, we investigated the case of a higher education institution's administration, which combines features of public and private organizations. We applied a longitudinal case study and conducted interviews with 39 German higher education institution (HEI) employees at two time points during the first (2020) and second (2021) lockdown. Content analyses revealed that a general openness toward change and distinct technical infrastructure enabled efficient coping with the pandemic despite struggles with digitalization and rigidity. Advantages in work outcomes were contrasted with losses in social interactions. Flexible models (e.g., working from home or the office) were desirable long-term work concepts. We integrated our findings in a framework on factors that contribute to supporting organizational adaptations and derived practical recommendations.

Managing Pandemics-Demands, Resources, and Effective Behaviors Within Crisis Management Teams.

Pandemics, such as the COVID-19 crisis, are very complex emergencies that can neither be handled by individuals nor by any single municipality, organization or even country alone. Such situations require multidisciplinary crisis management teams (CMTs) at different administrative levels. However, most existing CMTs are trained for rather local and temporary emergencies but not for international and long-lasting crises. Moreover, CMT members in a pandemic face additional demands due to unknown characteristics of the disease and a highly volatile environment. To support and ensure the effectiveness of CMTs, we need to understand how CMT members can successfully cope with these multiple demands. Connecting teamwork research with the job demands and resources approach as starting framework, we conducted structured interviews and critical incident analyses with 144 members of various CMTs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Content analyses revealed both perceived demands as well as perceived resources in CMTs. Moreover, structuring work processes, open, precise and regular communication, and anticipatory, goal-oriented and fast problem solving were described as particularly effective behaviors in CMTs. We illustrate our findings in an integrated model and derive practical recommendations for the work and future training of CMTs.

Psychological Antecedents of Refugee Integration (PARI).

The successful management of refugee immigration, including refugee integration in host societies, requires a sound understanding of underlying psychological processes. We propose the psychological antecedents of refugee integration (PARI) model, highlighting perceived forcedness (i.e., coercion and loss of control from "push" factors) and ensuing perils (risks and potential suffering during migration) as distinctive factors of refugee (vs. voluntary) migration. According to our model, perceptions and subjective representations of forcedness and associated perils activate specific psychological processes relevant to refugee integration and thus moderate responses to the demands and stressors of the immigration situation. We conceptualize these distinctive influences for integration-relevant processes in both refugees and in residents. By pinpointing the unique features of refugee migration, PARI generates novel and specific hypotheses about psychological processes predicting refugee integration. For instance, refugees' memories of forcedness and associated perils should lead to a high level of preoccupation with the restoration of basic needs after arrival in a receiving country that interferes with integration-related activities. Conversely, residents' perceptions of forcedness and related perils may enhance empathy with refugees but may also magnify feelings of anxiety and threat. Implications for refugee integration are discussed for the domains of occupational work, education, and mental health.

Trust is essential: positive effects of information systems on users' memory require trust in the system.

Initial results suggest that decision support systems (DSSs) can trigger 'directed forgetting' in business settings if users trust in the DSS. In the present study, we further examined this trust effect on DSS-cued forgetting and related positive effects on users' cognitive resources, performance, and well-being. Moreover, we investigated how trust translates into behavioural intentions to use a DSS, and into actual usage of the DSS. Finally, we examined if risk-related framing of decision outcomes (loss vs. gain framing) moderates trust effects on directed forgetting and behavioural intentions. In line with our expectations, results of an experiment with N = 200 participants confirmed that trust significantly enhances directed forgetting, performance, and well-being. Behavioural intentions fully mediated the trust effect on DSS use. Framing of decision outcomes showed no moderation but a main effect on directed forgetting, with loss framing reducing the directed forgetting effect. Practitioner summary: This experimental study demonstrates the importance of trust in information systems to leverage positive effects of these systems on users' cognitive resources, performance, and well-being in a simulated complex business setting. Abbreviations: DSS(s): decision support system(s); R-F: remember-forget difference; ANOVA: difference analysis of variance.

Directed forgetting in organisations: the positive effects of decision support systems on mental resources and well-being.

Decision makers in organisations are often overtaxed by huge amounts of information in daily business processes. As a potential support strategy, this study examined 'directed forgetting' (Bjork, 1970) in a simulated sales planning scenario. We assumed that the availability of a computer-based decision support system (DSS) triggers the forgetting of decision-related background information. Such directed forgetting should not only release memory capacities for additional tasks but also enhance decision quality and decrease strain of decision makers. Assumptions were tested in an experimental study with N = 90 participants. Consistent with our assumptions, results revealed a higher recall of decision-unrelated information, higher decision quality and higher well-being when participants could use a DSS as compared to two Control conditions without a DSS. Moreover, directed forgetting effects were qualified by participants' trust in the DSS. This study provides the first evidence for directed forgetting effects cued by information systems in a business context. Practitioner summary: Information overload is an increasing challenge in modern business organisations. Extending findings from basic memory research, this study shows that availability of a computer-based decision support system triggers forgetting of decision-related background information, which in turn increases users' mental resources for additional tasks, decision quality, and well-being.

Longitudinal Effects of Activity-Based Flexible Office Design on Teamwork.

This three-wave longitudinal interview study (time lag: 12 and 18 months) investigates the impact of working in an activity-based flexible office (A-FO) on processes within and across teams (i.e., communication, trust, cohesion, and collaboration) and team management. Based on a new theoretical framework on benefits and risks of A-FOs (A-FO-M; Wohlers and Hertel, 2017), we conducted interviews with 25 employees of an in-house training institute who recently switched from single cell or shared offices to an A-FO. The A-FO consisted of a main open-layout environment without assigned workstations and provided additional working zones appropriate for specific work activities. According to the A-FO-M, A-FO features are expected to alter visibility and proximity of employees compared to office environments with assigned workstations. Altered visibility and proximity, in turn, should be related to team processes, such as communication. The interview material was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. This textual analysis procedure revealed that the interviewees reported that inter-team collaboration improved while working in the A-FO. Reasons that were mentioned for this positive effect were more contact, communication, collaboration possibilities (joint project work), and trusting relationships. However, interviewees also reported negative effects, such as that teamwork suffered due to less communication and cooperation. Along with that, especially ensuring team cohesion and communication among team partners were the most often mentioned challenges for management since team members were spatially dispersed within the office building. Theoretical and practical implications, such as assigning additional team areas to support teamwork, as well as recommendations for future research are discussed.

Trust and distrust in information systems at the workplace.

Digitalization of work processes is advancing, and this is increasingly supported by complex information systems (IS). However, whether such systems are used by employees largely depends on users' trust in these IS. Because there are few systematic studies on this topic, this research provides an initial exploration and validation of preconditions for trust in work-related IS. In Study 1, N = 30 professionals were asked to describe occupational incidents in which they had highly trusted or distrusted an IS. Content analysis of 111 critical incidents described in the in-depth interviews led to 12 predictors of trust and distrust in IS, which partly correspond to the structure of the established IS success model (Delone & McLean, 2003) but also exceed this structure. The resulting integrative model of trust in IS at work was validated in Study 2 using an online questionnaire with N = 179 professionals. Based on regression analyses, reliability (system quality) and credibility (information quality) of IS were identified as the most important predictors for both trust and distrust in IS at work. Contrasting analyses revealed diverging qualities of trust and distrust in IS : whereas well-being and performance were rated higher in trust events, experienced strain was rated higher in distrust events. Together, this study offers a first comprehensive model of trust in IS at work based on systematic empirical research. In addition to implications for theory advancement, we suggest practical implications for how to support trust and to avoid distrust in IS at work.

Effort Gains in Occupational Teams - The Effects of Social Competition and Social Indispensability.

Laboratory research has demonstrated social competition and social indispensability as potential triggers of effort gains in teams as compared to working alone. However, it is unclear whether such effects are also relevant for existing occupational teams, collaborating for longer time intervals and achieving meaningful outcomes. We assumed that social indispensability effects are prevalent and stable in occupational teams, whereas social competition effects should mainly be effective in the beginning of teamwork and fade out over time. Hypotheses were confirmed in two studies using within-subjects designs with employees recruited via an online panel (Study 1, N = 137) and in software development companies (Study 2, N = 70). By means of the Event Reconstruction Method, participants re-experienced specific events from past working days (three events working alone, three teamwork events), and rated their effort separately for these events. In both studies, multilevel analyses revealed significant effort gains in teams when event-specific social indispensability was high. These effects were mediated by positive mood and perceived task meaningfulness, and additionally qualified by employees' preference for teamwork. In contrast, motivating effects due to event-specific social competition were only observed for teams with short as compared to long team tenure in Study 2.

Medical doctors' job specification analysis: A qualitative inquiry.

Purpose: A qualitative inquiry was conducted to investigate the qualification requirements of medical doctors in different professional fields and from different perspectives. The inquiry was part of an empirical workplace analysis. Methods: Seventy-four structured interviews were conducted and analyzed to examine critical incidents and behaviors of medical doctors working in different professional fields (clinical theory, clinical practice, practitioner) and disciplines, and from three different perspectives (medical doctors, non-medical staff, and patients). In addition, the National Competency-based Catalogue of Learning Objectives for Medical Education (Nationaler Kompetenzbasierter Lernzielkatalog Medizin / NKLM) was used. Results: The results revealed eleven relevant competencies, which could be categorized into three superordinate competence clusters: interpersonal, work-related, and self-related. The perspectives of medical doctors and non-medical staff included all eleven competencies. However, the perspective of patients did not include one interpersonal and two self-related competencies. Nearly all of the critical behaviors mentioned are included in the NKLM. However, the NKLM also includes behaviors that were not mentioned in the interviews. Conclusions: The behavior-oriented interviews resulted in a requirement profile that is very similar in structure to other competency models in occupational contexts. Comparisons of the different perspectives predominantly revealed similarities. However, the patient perspective also revealed interesting differences compared to the perspectives of medical doctors and non-medical staff. The behavior-related results of the interviews can be directly used for the development of exercises in selection and personnel development contexts and for potential appraisals specific to different medical disciplines. In future steps, the results of this initial qualitative step are to be replicated and extended using quantitative studies and a representative sample. The main overall objective is the definition of relevant competencies both for the selection and development of medical students and for the design of potential appraisals as part of personnel development programs in different medical disciplines.

Future Time Perspective in Occupational Teams: Do Older Workers Prefer More Familiar Teams?

Working in teams is quite popular across different industries and cultures. While some of these teams exist for longer time periods, other teams collaborate only for short periods and members switch into new teams after goals are accomplished. However, workers' preferences for joining a new team might vary in different ways. Based on Carstensen's socioemotional selectivity theory, we predict that emotionally meaningful teams are prioritized when occupational future time perspective (OFTP) is perceived as limited. Building and expanding on studies outside of the work context, we expected that older as compared to younger workers prefer more familiar teams, and that this effect is mediated by workers' OFTP. Moreover, we assumed that experimentally manipulated OFTP can change such team preferences. The hypotheses were tested in an online scenario study using three experimental conditions (within-person design). Four hundred and fifty-four workers (57% female, age M = 45.98, SD = 11.46) were asked to choose between a familiar and a new team in three consecutive trials: under an unspecified OFTP (baseline), under an expanded OFTP (amendment of retirement age), and under a restricted OFTP (insolvency of the current company). Whereas the baseline condition was always first, the order of the second and third conditions was randomized among participants. In the baseline condition, results showed the expected mediation effect of workers' OFTP on the relation between workers' age and preference for a familiar over a new team. Higher age was associated with more limited OFTP, which in turn was associated with higher preference for a familiar over a new team. Moreover, experimentally restricting OFTP increased preference for a familiar team over a new team regardless of workers' age, providing further evidence for the assumed causal processes and showing interesting avenues for practical interventions in occupational teams.

Age and personal values: Similar value circles with shifting priorities.

This study examined the relationship of personal values to age using data from two representative surveys. We hypothesized that individuals organize personal values, regardless of their age, as a circle with the same order of values on this circle but that older persons are closer to conservation and more remote from openness to change and closer to self-transcendence and more distant from self-enhancement. The structural stability of the value circle over age was largely confirmed across and within individuals. Different age groups exhibited a tendency to more strongly cluster those values that they rated as relatively important. (PsycINFO Database Record

Transformational Leadership and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Test of Underlying Mechanisms.

Based on social exchange theory, we examined and contrasted attitudinal mediators (affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction) and relational mediators (trust in leader, leader-member exchange; LMX) of the positive relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Hypotheses were tested using meta-analytic path models with correlations from published meta-analyses (761 samples with 227,419 individuals overall). When testing single-mediator models, results supported our expectations that each of the mediators explained the relationship between transformational leadership and OCB. When testing a multi-mediator model, LMX was the strongest mediator. When testing a model with a latent attitudinal mechanism and a latent relational mechanism, the relational mechanism was the stronger mediator of the relationship between transformational leadership and OCB. Our findings help to better understand the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between transformational leadership and OCB.

On the boundary conditions of effort losses and effort gains in action teams.

While people's willingness to work hard can be reduced in teams (i.e., effort losses in teams as compared with individual work), it is less recognized that teamwork can also stimulate additional efforts (i.e., effort gains). Building on and extending existing theory, we (a) suggest an integration of these two research streams, and (b) provide evidence for team-related effort gains in action teams. In a first study, we tested our predictions by reanalyzing a field data set of 302,576 swimming performances in individual and relay races (Neugart & Richiardi, 2013). Consistent with our hypotheses, we observed a linear increase in effort across the relay. The first relay swimmers showed effort losses in the relay as compared with the individual competition whereas the remaining relay swimmers showed effort gains. However, this was only evident (a) when team members could realistically expect meaningful team outcomes in return for their performance, and (b) when the valence of these outcomes was equivalent to individual competitions. If such favorable conditions were not given, we found effort losses in team as compared with individual competitions at all relay positions. Results of a second study (N = 228) showed that the linear increase in effort across the relay was indeed attributable to the team members' serial position and not to their relative strength. Together, the studies demonstrate the motivating potential of teamwork even in the high performance contexts of action teams, such as competitive sports relays, where athletes are already highly motivated in their individual competitions. (PsycINFO Database Record

Choosing where to work at work - towards a theoretical model of benefits and risks of activity-based flexible offices.

Although there is a trend in today's organisations to implement activity-based flexible offices (A-FOs), only a few studies examine consequences of this new office type. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms why A-FOs might lead to different consequences as compared to cellular and open-plan offices are still unclear. This paper introduces a theoretical framework explaining benefits and risks of A-FOs based on theories from work and organisational psychology. After deriving working conditions specific for A-FOs (territoriality, autonomy, privacy, proximity and visibility), differences in working conditions between A-FOs and alternative office types are proposed. Further, we suggest how these differences in working conditions might affect work-related consequences such as well-being, satisfaction, motivation and performance on the individual, the team and the organisational level. Finally, we consider task-related (e.g. task variety), person-related (e.g. personality) and organisational (e.g. leadership) moderators. Based on this model, future research directions as well as practical implications are discussed. Practitioner Summary: Activity-based flexible offices (A-FOs) are popular in today's organisations. This article presents a theoretical model explaining why and when working in an A-FO evokes benefits and risks for individuals, teams and organisations. According to the model, A-FOs are beneficial when management encourages employees to use the environment appropriately and supports teams.

Does trust matter more in virtual teams? A meta-analysis of trust and team effectiveness considering virtuality and documentation as moderators.

Team trust has often been discussed both as requirement and as challenge for team effectiveness, particularly in virtual teams. However, primary studies on the relationship between trust and team effectiveness have provided mixed findings. The current review summarizes existing studies on team trust and team effectiveness based on meta-analytic methodology. In general, we assumed team trust to facilitate coordination and cooperation in teams, and therefore to be positively related with team effectiveness. Moreover, team virtuality and documentation of interactions were considered as moderators of this relationship because they should affect perceived risks during teamwork. While team virtuality should increase, documentation of interaction should decrease the relationship between team trust and team effectiveness. Findings from 52 studies with 54 independent samples (representing 12,615 individuals in 1,850 teams) confirmed our assumptions. In addition to the positive overall relationship between team trust and team effectiveness criteria (ρ = .33), the relationship between team trust and team performance was stronger in virtual teams (ρ = .33) as compared to face-to-face teams (ρ = .22), and weaker when team interactions were documented (ρ = .20) as compared to no such documentation (ρ = .29). Thus, documenting team interactions seems to be a viable complement to trust-building activities, particularly in virtual teams. (PsycINFO Database Record

How "situational" is judgment in situational judgment tests?

Whereas situational judgment tests (SJTs) have traditionally been conceptualized as low-fidelity simulations with an emphasis on contextualized situation descriptions and context-dependent knowledge, a recent perspective views SJTs as measures of more general domain (context-independent) knowledge. In the current research, we contrasted these 2 perspectives in 3 studies by removing the situation descriptions (i.e., item stems) from SJTs. Across studies, the traditional contextualized SJT perspective was not supported for between 43% and 71% of the items because it did not make a significant difference whether the situation description was included or not for these items. These results were replicated across construct domains, samples, and response instructions. However, there was initial evidence that judgment in SJTs was more situational when (a) items measured job knowledge and skills and (b) response options denoted context-specific rules of action. Verbal protocol analyses confirmed that high scorers on SJTs without situation descriptions relied upon general rules about the effectiveness of the responses. Implications for SJT theory, research, and design are discussed.

A meta-analysis on gender differences in negotiation outcomes and their moderators.

This meta-analysis investigates gender differences in economic negotiation outcomes. As suggested by role congruity theory, we assume that the behaviors that increase economic negotiation outcomes are more congruent with the male as compared with the female gender role, thereby presenting challenges for women's negotiation performance and reducing their outcomes. Importantly, this main effect is predicted to be moderated by person-based, situation-based, and task-based influences that make effective negotiation behavior more congruent with the female gender role, which should in turn reduce or even reverse gender differences in negotiation outcomes. Using a multilevel modeling approach, this meta-analysis includes 123 effect sizes (overall N = 10,888, including undergraduate and graduate students as well as businesspeople). Studies were included when they enabled the calculation of an effect size reflecting gender differences in achieved economic negotiation outcomes. As predicted, men achieved better economic outcomes than women on average, but gender differences strongly depended on the context: Moderator analysis revealed that gender differences favoring men were reduced when negotiators had negotiation experience, when they received information about the bargaining range, and when they negotiated on behalf of another individual. Moreover, gender differences were reversed under conditions of the lowest predicted role incongruity for women. In conclusion, gender differences in negotiations are contextually bound and can be subject to change. Future research is needed that investigates the underlying mechanisms of new moderators revealed in the current research (e.g., experience). Implications for theoretical explanations of gender differences in negotiation outcomes, for gender inequalities in the workplace, and for future research are discussed.

The two sides of competition: competition-induced effort and affect during intergroup versus interindividual competition.

Competition strongly affects individual effort and performance for both individuals and groups. Especially in work settings, these effort gains might come at the cost of individual well-being. The present study tested whether competition increases both effort (as indicated by task performance) and stress (in terms of cardiovascular reactivity and affective response), and whether this effect is further qualified by the type of competition (interindividual vs. intergroup), using a cognitive computer-based task and a 2 (Group: Yes, No) × 2 (Competition: Yes, No) × 2 (Gender) factorial design (N = 147). All participants either worked as a representative of a group or as an individual, and were offered performance-related incentives distributed in a lottery. In the competition conditions, participants were informed that they competed with someone else, and that only the winning person/team would take part in the lottery. Consistent with expectations, competition increased both individual effort and cardiovascular reactivity compared to non-competitive work. Moreover, for female participants, intergroup competition triggered increased effort and more positive affect than interindividual competition. Aside from documenting costly side-effects of competition in terms of stress, this study provides evidence for a stress-related explanation of effort gains during intergroup competition as compared to interindividual competition.