Developing measures for information ergonomics in knowledge work

Information ergonomics is an evolving application domain of ergonomics focusing on the management of workload in the real-world contexts of information-intensive tasks. This study introduces a method for the evaluation of information ergonomics in knowledge work. To this end, five key dimensions of information ergonomics were identified: contextual factors of knowledge work, multitasking, interruptions at work, practices for managing information load, and perceived job control and productivity. In total, 24 measures focusing on the above dimensions were constructed. The measures include, for example, the number of fragmented work tasks per work day. The measures were preliminarily tested in two Finnish organisations, making use of empirical data gathered by interviews, electronic questionnaires and log data applications tracking work processes on personal computers. The measures are applicable to the evaluation of information ergonomics, even though individual measures vary with regard to the amount of work and time needed for data analysis.

Practitioner Summary:

The study introduces a method for the evaluation of information ergonomics in knowledge work. To this end, 24 measures were constructed and tested empirically. The measures focus on contextual factors of knowledge work, multitasking, interruptions at work, practices for managing information load, and perceived job control and productivity.     

Information management practices (IMP) from the senior manager's perspective: an investigation of the IMP construct and its measurement

While many scholars have discussed what a company should look like when it has reached an advanced state in using its information, there has been little empirical research to develop a valid effectiveness measure to determine whether a company is doing a good job of managing its information. Based on a theoretically derived model of an information life cycle, this study empirically tests a measure of information management practices (IMP) that can be part of future business measurement approaches. To ensure that we maintain an enterprise‐wide perspective, we focus on senior managers' perceptions of how well their companies manage information. We discuss IMP as a ‘process’ or life cycle that involves sensing, collecting, organising, processing and maintaining information to enhance its use for decision‐making. We first give an overview of the research on life cycle views of information management. Next, we present our information management life cycle framework and its dimensions. We then statistically determine the extent to which these ideas exist in the minds of senior managers as reflected in the second‐order construct IMP. Finally, we discuss the implications for evaluating and measuring IMP in companies. The contributions have scholarly value as a building block in a theory of knowledge management, and practical value as a validated measure of the effectiveness of IMP.     

The roles of psychological climate,information management capabilities,and IT support on knowledge-sharing: an MOA perspective

Leveraging the motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) theoretical framework and past research on psychological climate, this study analyzes three antecedent factors driving an individual’s knowledge-sharing (KS) within organizations: knowledge-sharing psychological climate as motivation, information management capability as ability, and organizational information technology support as opportunity. An empirical examination reveals that a motivating psychological climate has a primary impact on KS behavior, and the impact of perceived information management capability on sharing is mediated by the psychological climate. Perceived organizational use of information technology to support knowledge work bears strong influence on information management capabilities but not on sharing, suggesting that investment in IT does have indirect payoffs. The study is the first to position the opportunity→ability→motivation causal network in an individual’s KS behavior. The findings suggest that managers need to consider the pre-requisite roles of IT-enabled opportunities and workers’ information management abilities when building an all-important motivating climate to share.     

Dimensionality of Social Capital and Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Information Systems Project Teams

Knowledge sharing and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among project team members are crucial for project success due to the particularities of information systems (IS) projects. Bonding social capital is known to increase knowledge sharing and collaboration. However, the influence of bridging social capital on knowledge sharing is unclear. The interplay between bridging and bonding social capital is especially interesting in a collectivistic society such as South Korea where in-group ties are particularly strong. In this study, we examine the effect of the sub-dimensions of the above constructs (i.e., bonding, bridging, OCB) on knowledge sharing. The results suggest that bonding and citizenry behavior improves knowledge sharing. Bridging improves knowledge sharing by increasing organizational citizenry behavior. Unexpectedly, the effect of citizenship behavior on knowledge sharing differs from the effect of its sub-dimensions. Only helping others is positively related to knowledge sharing. Similarly, the sub-dimensions of bridging and bonding influence knowledge sharing and citizenship behavior differently than the first-order constructs. For example, shared team mental model positively affects OCB, but has no direct influence on knowledge sharing. Conversely, shared vision is the only sub-dimension of bridging that positively affects OCB. Thus, the results suggest that project managers should facilitate shared project vision and team mental model to encourage team members’ citizenship behavior and control the potential adverse influence of bridging social capital.     

Employees’ opportunities,preferences, and practices in telecommuting adoption

This study uses three separate models for the opportunity, preference, and practice of telecommuting to analyze employee telecommuting adoption. Explanatory clusters relate to organizational, job, household, and individual characteristics derived from the combined insights from literature on telework management and employees’ telecommuting decisions and behavior. Data was collected from 849 employees using a personal computer at the workplace, selected from a representative sample of the Dutch labor force. Multivariate analyses were applied. Opportunity largely depended on organizational and job characteristics. Preference was dependent on all explanatory clusters. Practice was especially dependent on job and individual characteristics.     

Unleashing the Power of mCRM: Investigating Antecedents of Mobile CRM Values from Managers’ Viewpoint

Mobile technology together with Internet-based electronic commerce has transformed the way businesses operate. Mobile Customer Relationship Management (mCRM) combines mobility and CRM (customer relationship management) to enable organizations to increase their business performance by delivering better products/services to their customers. Incorporating location-based information into CRM systems has created new values and business opportunities. Using location information, for example, businesses can offer more personalized and real-time location-based services (LBS) to their customers. In this study, we investigate how the IT infrastructure and LBS support of mCRM, as technical resource capabilities, and mCRM knowledge and education, as human resource capabilities, can enhance business performance of the organization by improving mCRM’s quality dimensions. We propose a research model that integrates the resource-based view (RBV) of a firm and DeLone and McLean IS success model to investigate the effects of mCRM quality dimensions on business performance. To validate the proposed research model, we collected a set of empirical data from managers in a wide range of organizations that use mCRM in South Korea. The results indicate that the IT infrastructure of an organization as a technical resource, along with mCRM users’ knowledge, as a human resource capability can significantly influence managers’ perceptions of quality along various dimensions of mCRM: customer data quality, system quality, and service quality. Consequently, improving these quality dimensions will significantly influence the performance of an organization in terms of financial performance, productivity, and customer satisfaction. The present study would help both academic and professionals to understand and improve business performance by employing the appropriate resources that can harness the full potential of mCRM.     

SimKnowledge—Analyzing impact of knowledge management measures on team organizations with multi agent-based simulation

Even though there is abundant literature on successful cases of organizations applying knowledge management (KM) measures, many KM initiatives have failed to achieve their knowledge and business goals. In order to foster decisions about the design of such initiatives, information is required on success factors and barriers when selecting KM measures. Multi agent-based simulation (MABS) is suggested as instrument to investigate potential effects of KM measures on dependent variables such as sharing of knowledge in organizations or business performance. For such a simulation, the concept of knowledge sharing, influencing factors and their impact on business and knowledge goals are modeled based on an extensive multi-disciplinary literature survey. An extensive domain model is operationalized in a simulation model which is then further simplified and implemented in a MABS tool used for a series of experiments contrasting results with/without KM measures, specifically skill and experience management. Skill management is found highly sensitive with respect to conditions of application and has no significant impact on knowledge or business goals. Experience management positively impacts knowledge and business goals. Personal documentation leads to specialist, project debriefings to generalist knowledge workers. Finally, the paper discusses the simulation’s limitations and further areas of application.     

Ambidextrous information search: linking personal and impersonal search routines with individual performance

Organizations invest resources to develop information capabilities, to utilize personal and impersonal information. While the utilization of knowledge is likely to improve organizational performance, it is unclear what the consequences of utilizing personal and impersonal sources of information are for individuals. This study sought to increase understanding of the performance implications of using personal and impersonal information, by examining four business units of a large financial institution. Utilizing competing theoretical models, we tested whether personal and impersonal sources of information substituted for, or complemented each other. The results indicated that individuals who utilized information from personal and impersonal sources of knowledge in a complementary fashion had superior performance. Parsing impersonal knowledge sourcing, we found that the use of specific impersonal information repositories increased performance, while the use of general impersonal information decreased performance. In general, this study shed light on the origins of individual knowledge capabilities, and indicated that individuals gain advantages, by engaging in particular knowledge-sourcing routines.     

Cyberloafing and job burnout: An investigation in the knowledge-intensive sector

Cyberloafing in the knowledge-intensive settings has hitherto remained an underexplored research terrain. This is despite that, among others, the implications of cyberloafing in the knowledge-intensive context are more costly to the employers as compared to other less-knowledge-intensive settings. The motivations, moderators and consequences of cyberloafing among knowledge workers appear to have multifarious differences and contextual nuances. One of the significant determinants and increasing vulnerabilities of the knowledge-intensive setting is job burnout. This paper particularly focuses on and studies the inter-relationship of job burnout and cyberloafing. The viewpoints of knowledge-workers at a cross-section of organizational levels have been studied through quantitative surveys. The findings show that both facets of cyberloafing (activities and behaviors) have significant impact on job burnout among knowledge workers. It is also proved that cyberloafing ‘behaviors’ is a stronger predictor of job burnout than cyberloafing ‘activities’.     

Knowledge management for occupational safety,health, and ergonomics

The critical challenge for occupational safety, health, and ergonomics (OSHE) in contemporary industry is management of the existing individual (personal) knowledge, structural knowledge (i.e., knowledge codified into manuals, reports, databases, and data warehouses), and organizational knowledge (activity of learning within the organization) in the vast domain of practical applications. Therefore, the principles and tools of knowledge management (KM) should be used to facilitate the management of OSHE. The authors discuss the requirements for effective knowledge management, review the existing models of KM and their structures, and introduce a model for KM in OSHE. The proposed model of KM for OSHE is based on a strategy that establishes knowledge as the central resource to achieve the goals of OSHE management. The model includes the systems of organizational knowledge, organizational learning (knowledge creation, distribution, elaboration, and consolidation), development of knowledge workers, KM processes (review, conceptualization, reflection, and acting), and relevant information‐technologies. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 16: 309–319, 2006.     

A multiple logistic function for pilot trainee selection

Using the case of a pilot trainee selection problem as a vehicle for demonstration, this paper develops a multiple logistic function (MLF) for screening candidates unfit for the job on the basis of their test scores.

Using animated computer graphics on a personal computer, 15 single plus 9 dual tasks involving various perceptual/psychomotor functions and information processing are administered to 105 subjects, and 62 performance measures are collected. By statistically evaluating these measures, 7 most important measures relevant to flight performance are selected to be used as a new pilot trainee selection battery, applicable in the field without much logistic difficulty.

Treating the measures from 7 different single tasks as “risk” variables, an MLF involving a linear discriminant function is developed. Retrospective classification demonstrates that the MLF is capable of predicting 80% of the observations correctly regarding their group origin.     

Knowledge transfer in virtual settings: the role of individual virtual competency

Economic forces, competitive pressures and technological advances have created an environment within which firms have developed new ways of organizing (e.g. virtual work settings) and managing their resources (e.g. knowledge management) in order to maintain and improve firm performance. Extant research has highlighted the challenges associated with managing knowledge in virtual settings. However, researchers are still struggling to provide effective guidance to practitioners in this field. We believe that a better understanding of individual virtual competency is a potential avenue for managing the complexity of knowledge transfer in virtual settings. In particular, we suggest that optimal knowledge transfers can be achieved by individuals armed with the right personal capabilities and skills for virtual work, particularly when those knowledge transfers are emergent, bottom-up and cannot be specified a priori. The virtual competency exhibited by individuals can be the key to overcoming the constraints of knowledge transfers with such characteristics because underlying competency can facilitate effective action in unfamiliar and novel situations. In this conceptual research, we develop a theoretical model of individual virtual competence and describe its role in the communication process, which underpins effective knowledge transfer in virtual settings. Additionally, we consider the antecedent role that prior experience in virtual activity plays in aiding workers to develop virtual competence, which in turn engenders effective knowledge transfer. We conclude with implications for future research and for practicing managers.     

Stress reactions to computer‐interactive tasks as a function of task structure and individual differences

The resurgence of interest in occupational stress has resulted in an emphasis on identifying work conditions that are potentially causal in generating stress reactions and psychological disorders among workers. Although a considerable knowledge base related to this topic has evolved, relatively little is known regarding the impact of computer technology on incidence of job stress. This issue is especially important for older workers, given the increased use of computers in most occupations, the aging of the workforce, and the changes in cognitive and physiological capacities that occur with increased age. The study reported in this article was concerned with developing a methodology to evaluate stress for computer‐interactive tasks as a function of the mental workload of the task and the age of the individual. Sixty‐five women ranging in age from 25 to 70 years performed three computer‐interactive tasks that varied as a function of information processing complexity and pacing requirements. The methodology encompassed physiological, subjective, and performance measures. Results indicated differences in sensitivity among the measures as a function of task and age. The data also indicated age differences in stress reactions and performance. The findings are discussed in terms of the suitability of computer tasks for older people.     

Identification and analyses of job difficulty dimensions An empirical study

A study was conducted to identify what job incumbent's interpret as dimensions of job difficulty. In this study job difficulty is defined as a job activity that requires significant physical and/or mental effort to complete. First, interviews, card sorting, and categorization procedures were used with randomly selected staff nurses in three hospitals to develop an occupation specific job difficulty composite scale. The scale was then administered to 130 medical-surgical staff nurses. Factor analysis revealed three job difficulty dimensions for nurses—overload, conflict, head nurse practices, Second, ANOVA and stepwise multiple regression were used to examine the relationships between the factor analytically derived dimensions and satisfaction, commitment, job tension, and performance ratings. It was determined that the various dimensions were differentially related to the various outcome measures.     

Mapping workers’ performance to analyse workers heterogeneity under different workflow policies

Manual work in assembly lines allows one to benefit from human reasoning capabilities and to assure the flexibility to adapt to fluctuations in production volume, products mix and reduced product lifecycles. With the objective of quantifying and systematizing the knowledge about the heterogeneity of workers’ performance, data was collected in an industrial setting. The results demonstrate a significant variation in workers’ performance in terms of speed and variability of the task completion time. A mapping approach is proposed aiming to quantify the workers’ performance and visualize performance patterns. Since the human performance is influenced by the setting where the workers perform their job, two real assembly line pacing mechanisms were set and studied: pacing derived from the manual assembly system rhythm and pacing imposed by a fixed time constraint. The type of pacing clearly influences workers’ performance (i.e., speed and variability) and revealed a significant influence in the assembly line output. In particular, imposing a fixed and equal time constraint for every worker reduces the heterogeneity of workers’ performance and improves the assembly line output.     

Workers' propensity to telecommute: An empirical study

Today's telecommuting workforce encompasses all categories of workers including managers, professionals and other knowledge workers. While organizations have the choice of mandating telecommuting or offering it as an option, individuals also have the choice of participating or not when telecommuting is optional. This research investigated whether individual factors, such as age, skills, identification with organization, or job category influenced these individuals' decisions to telecommute or not. A survey of telecommuters and non-telecommuters was conducted in two large work groups working for a high technology organization. Job category and gender showed a significant difference between telecommuters and non-telecommuters. Age, years with organization, and computer skills did not show significant differences. Reasons provided by respondents for opting not to telecommute are discussed. In addition, a comparison of perceived productivity, performance, sense of personal control, and satisfaction between telecommuters and non-telecommuters was performed. Differences were found between telecommuters and non-telecommuters in their ratings of personal control and productivity. The paper concludes with suggestions for practitioners and recommendations for future research.     

Knowledge distribution via shared context between blog-based knowledge management systems: A case study of collaborative tagging

Most of the existing personal knowledge management systems have been employing blogging services which is capable of providing various services (e.g., knowledge distribution and knowledge creation) to people. However, automated knowledge delivering service among the systems is difficult to take into account the corresponding context (or semantics) of the knowledge, so that the service can spread irrelevant information into knowledge management systems. In order to solve this problem, this study proposes a novel architecture, called blog context overlay network, to fulfill context matching between blog-based knowledge management systems. It is referred to as detecting ‘shared’ context between knowledge management systems. Thus, with respect to the contexts, we want to identify a community of practice (CoP) on a knowledge blogosphere where a set of blog-based knowledge management systems are incorporating with each other. As a result, newly generated knowledge can be proactively diffused to the blog-based knowledge management systems of which context is relevant to the knowledge, even before the bloggers’ queries are explicitly asked.     

Document recommendation for knowledge sharing in personal folder environments

Sharing sustainable and valuable knowledge among knowledge workers is a fundamental aspect of knowledge management. In organizations, knowledge workers usually have personal folders in which they organize and store needed codified knowledge (textual documents) in categories. In such personal folder environments, providing knowledge workers with needed knowledge from other workers’ folders is important because it increases the workers’ productivity and the possibility of reusing and sharing knowledge. Conventional recommendation methods can be used to recommend relevant documents to workers; however, those methods recommend knowledge items without considering whether the items are assigned to the appropriate category in the target user’s personal folders. In this paper, we propose novel document recommendation methods, including content-based filtering and categorization, collaborative filtering and categorization, and hybrid methods, which integrate text categorization techniques, to recommend documents to target worker’s personalized categories. Our experiment results show that the hybrid methods outperform the pure content-based and the collaborative filtering and categorization methods. The proposed methods not only proactively notify knowledge workers about relevant documents held by their peers, but also facilitate push-mode knowledge sharing.     

KMPI: measuring knowledge management performance

This paper provides a new metric, knowledge management performance index (KMPI), for assessing the performance of a firm in its knowledge management (KM) at a point in time. Firms are assumed to have always been oriented toward accumulating and applying knowledge to create economic value and competitive advantage. We therefore suggest the need for a KMPI which we have defined as a logistic function having five components that can be used to determine the knowledge circulation process (KCP): knowledge creation, knowledge accumulation, knowledge sharing, knowledge utilization, and knowledge internalization. When KCP efficiency increases, KMPI will also expand, enabling firms to become knowledge-intensive. To prove KMPI’s contribution, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 101 firms listed in the KOSDAQ market in Korea. We associated KMPI with three financial measures: stock price, price earnings ratio (PER), and R&D expenditure. Statistical results show that the proposed KMPI can represent KCP efficiency, while the three financial performance measures are also useful.     

Preventing falls from roofs: a critical review

Work-related falls from roofs remain a significant problem for workers in the construction industry. Knowledge about the main causative or initiating factors leading to fall incidents is desperately needed for fall prevention intervention. From biomechanical and psychophysiological perspectives the majority of occupational falls, including falls from roofs, can be regarded as loss-of-balance incidents. The primary objective of this paper is to summarize the current knowledge from multiple fields about factors that are related to the control of balance during roofing work. An extensive literature review identified a number of environmental, task-related and personal factors that degrade the control of balance and could be associated with the initiation of falls from roofs. These factors include visual exposure to elevation; unstable visual cues and inadequate visual information in the work environment; ‘confined’ and inclined support surfaces; unexpected changes in roof surface properties; load handling; physical exertion; fatigue; task complexity that diverts workers' attention; individual differences; work experience and training; and personal protective equipment. Current measures to reduce falls from roofs focus mainly on fall protection procedures, such as the use of covers, guardrails, safety nets, and personal fall arrest systems, or the application of warning-line systems, safety monitoring systems, and fall protection plans. In many instances, these procedures are not practical for the industry and current regulations allow the use of alternative means of fall protection, such as slide guards. Future research on preventing falls from roofs should consider the main effects and interactions of the environmental, task-related and personal factors that affect the balance control of workers. Research-supported improvements in the visual and physical characteristics of the roof work environment, the construction materials and methods, and work procedures and practices may result in improved workers' balance control as well as overall safety performance, and would ultimately reduce incidents of falling from a roof.