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1 – 10 of over 5000Nigel Oseland and Paige Hodsman
The purpose of this paper is to determine whether noise is affected by psychological factors rather than simply by physical metrics. For example, personality type, age, perceived…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine whether noise is affected by psychological factors rather than simply by physical metrics. For example, personality type, age, perceived control and screening ability were explored, as well as the choice of primary workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was conducted which resulted in 517 valid responses. The survey included the personality profiling along with questions related to noise and personal circumstances. The key noise metrics were perceived performance, ability to work, well-being and stress plus three noise indices: concentration, distraction and speech interference.
Findings
The survey revealed that personality type does affect noise perception, in particular extroversion and neuroticism. Perceived control, screening ability, age, workplace, design and focused work are also factors. Personal variables accounted for 25 per cent of the variance in the ability to carry out work, and for 40 per cent of the variance in concentration and speech interference.
Research limitations/implications
Whilst statistically significant differences were found for most of the psychological and personal variables, the size of effect was smaller than anticipated. This is likely because the survey was carried out across a range or workplaces, rather than in a laboratory, with a number of uncontrolled extraneous factors.
Practical implications
The research has resulted in the development of a design guidance document for controlling noise distractions based on more psychoacoustic, people-centred, principles than purely physical ones.
Originality value
Most acoustics research is conducted in the laboratory and focuses on the physical sound properties. This research took a psychoacoustic approach focusing more on psychological and personal factors, and was carried out in the real world.
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JungYun (Christine) Hur and SooCheong (Shawn) Jang
This study aims to investigate how consumer forgiveness is formed by examining rumination and distraction by consumers in hotel service failures.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how consumer forgiveness is formed by examining rumination and distraction by consumers in hotel service failures.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire in the USA. A total of 371 usable responses were obtained. Anderson and Gerbing’s two-step approach was used to assess the measurement and structural models.
Findings
This study suggests that rumination and distraction play significant roles in processing consumer forgiveness. Self-focused rumination and distraction increase consumer forgiveness, whereas provocation-focused rumination exacerbates the negative effects of service failure severity on consumer forgiveness. This study also shows that gender differences exist. Men were more likely than women to link self-focused rumination and distraction to their intentions to forgive a service provider.
Practical implications
This study is helpful for hotel managers to understand the mechanisms of consumer forgiveness in service failures and develop effective recovery strategies. Managers should aim to lessen consumers’ provocation-focused rumination while encouraging self-focused rumination and distraction. In addition, because of the differences in the process of consumer forgiveness between men and women, it is critical to differentiate the two groups in designing targeted recovery strategies for service failures.
Originality/value
This study investigates consumer forgiveness as a behavioral outcome following service failures that may help consumers achieve psychological balance and allow service providers a chance to restore the broken relationship. This study adds new information for understanding consumer responses and provides a basis for effective service management strategies.
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Kathy O. Roper and Parminder Juneja
The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic and systematic understanding of a fundamental issue within open plan office designs: the sustainability of two extremely…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic and systematic understanding of a fundamental issue within open plan office designs: the sustainability of two extremely contrasting requirements, concentration and collaboration, in the same workspace and work environment at a given time. A literature review is presented, along with initial suggestions for potential improvements in knowledge work organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
A thorough range of fields, including those outside the built environment, are investigated for their contribution to findings on distractions, especially auditory distractions and their impacts.
Findings
This research underpins the need for cost analysis of the impact that distractions have on knowledge workers. Provisions for appropriate and adaptable workspaces are needed to meet the dual needs of collaboration and concentration on complex tasks in order to maximize worker contribution and value.
Research limitations/implications
Additional field research on improved workspace is needed to confirm the hypothesis of savings from reduced or adaptation from auditory distractions.
Practical implications
As knowledge work grows, the evaluation of workplace architecture and design must include analysis of the needs of knowledge workers. The sole consideration of cost savings in real estate and facilities ignores the tremendous cost of human capital. This reduces overall value and profitability of the organizations choosing to ignore the workspace needs of their workers.
Originality/value
The paper provides a new and original review of multi‐disciplinary research on the impact of distractions, especially auditory distractions, providing the groundwork for analysis of total costs of auditory distractions in the workplace.
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Kathy O. Roper and Parminder Juneja
Auditory and visual distractions originating in the workspace have been shown to negatively impact the performance of knowledge workers on complex tasks. The paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Auditory and visual distractions originating in the workspace have been shown to negatively impact the performance of knowledge workers on complex tasks. The paper aims to theorize that an adaptable workspace (AW) can mitigate the negative impacts on performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual multi‐attribute utility model is presented to facilitate decision‐maker's choice between a static and an adaptable workspace. A mathematical model is presented to evaluate the net present value (NPV) of deploying AW in a knowledge organization. The significance of valuation model is an integration of costs of distractions into the NPV calculations. Negative impacts of distractions are modeled as performance costs. The model also captures the costs of deploying AW so that a comparative benefit of adopting AW over a static workspace is recognized.
Findings
The significant positive results for NPV justifies investments in AW over a standard open workspace with the exception for distraction‐free work environments. These calculations can be performed to compare a number of alternatives so that an informed decision is made for the type of a workspace to be designed.
Research limitation/implications
Auditory and visual distractions originating from workspace surroundings are only part of the complete list of distractions in a workplace, but are considered for this model because these are cited as significant problems in knowledge organizations. The model variables are identified based on the existing literature; further development is proposed for future research.
Originality/value
Research to quantify the value of elimination of distractions can have practical and valuable applications for facility decision makers, architects, engineers, and knowledge organizations.
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Digital distraction is a common phenomenon in e-reading contexts, and it is worth exploring in depth from the perspectives of information (digital content), users (readers) and…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital distraction is a common phenomenon in e-reading contexts, and it is worth exploring in depth from the perspectives of information (digital content), users (readers) and technology (digital reading medium). Since screen reading has close links with multitasking and potential distraction, any investigation of reading in the digital environment must factor in this reality. This paper aims to investigate the extent and effects of digital distraction while reading on screens. Special emphases go to exploring multitasking while reading.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey and analysis methods are employed.
Findings
The extent of digital distraction among college students it found is alarming. All the top four sources of distraction are communication-based activities. Female students tend to concentrate more than males when they read on screens. An overwhelming majority of participants choose to read in print to reduce distractions and to concentrate effectively. Screen reading is inherently distracting, primarily due to multitasking. It appears that repeated multitasking during academic endeavors carries substantial costs.
Originality/value
Implications of digital distraction are discussed, and directions of future research are suggested.
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Chengyee Janie Chang, Yutao Li and Yan Luo
The purpose of this study is to examine how auditors would react when there are exogenous negative shocks to their client portfolios.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how auditors would react when there are exogenous negative shocks to their client portfolios.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 31,256 firm-year observations (2001–2016), the authors investigate whether industry shocks to a subset of an auditor’s clients distract the auditor and affect the professional skepticism applied in the audits of other clients.
Findings
The authors find that clients of distracted auditors are more likely to meet or beat analyst consensus forecasts, suggesting that auditors’ professional skepticism is compromised by distractive events. The cross-sectional analyses reveal that the negative impact of the distractive events on audit quality is more pronounced when the distracted auditors audit less important clients, face lower third-party legal liabilities and experience higher growth. Using an alternative measure of audit quality, the additional analysis shows that clients of distracted auditors exhibit a higher probability of restating their earnings in subsequent years. Overall, the empirical evidence suggests that when distracted, auditors render lower quality audit.
Originality/value
The study complements recent work by Cassell et al. (2019), which shows that the 2008–2009 financial crisis affected the quality of the audits of nonbank clients of bank-specialized auditors. While Cassell et al. (2019) focus on one shock (financial crisis) to one industry (i.e. the financial services industry), the study examines more frequent shocks over a wide range of industries to identify the potential effects of distractive events, improving the generalizability of the findings to all industries and all auditors (specialist and nonspecialist) in nonrecession periods.
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Priyanka Nema, Ritu Srivastava, Rohan Bhalla and Abhinandan Chakarboty
The study examines the impact of social media distraction on the relationship between student engagement and student evaluations of teachers (SET) in management education, part of…
Abstract
Purpose
The study examines the impact of social media distraction on the relationship between student engagement and student evaluations of teachers (SET) in management education, part of the STEM disciplines. While it is widely accepted that student engagement and evaluation of teachers are two important constructs of active learning systems, their links, especially in the context of management education, have not been explored. This study seeks to fill this research gap as teachers' appraisal and career growth greatly depend on SET across higher education institutes worldwide.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 247 student participants from higher education institutes/universities using a questionnaire-based survey. Further, 15 students were interviewed to glean insights from their feelings regarding social media distractions and how it impacts their engagement and evaluation of teachers. For the quantitative and qualitative analyses, multiple regression and thematic analysis were applied, respectively. A word tree was developed to determine the association between experiences and contexts.
Findings
The results indicate that social media distraction moderates the relationship between students' cognitive engagement and their evaluation of teaching faculty. Social media distractions disrupt student engagement inside the classroom, leading to wrong/biased assessments of teachers' performance. Additionally, cognitive and emotional engagement significantly impacted student evaluations of the management college faculty.
Originality/value
The authors’ findings enable educators in higher education systems, specifically management education, to rethink the faculty feedback system and social media distractions impeding student engagement other than SET drawbacks.
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Mohammad Khairuddin Othman, Noorul Shaiful Fitri Abdul Rahman and Mohd Naim Fadzil
The purpose of this study is to determine the distraction factors based on their contributions in affecting seafarers’ physical and psychological well-being.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to determine the distraction factors based on their contributions in affecting seafarers’ physical and psychological well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic average mean value technique incorporated with quantitative data collection is applied to determine the contributions of the involved factors in establishing the distraction problems among seafarers.
Findings
Element of “Food and nutrition” is recorded as the highest contributing factor to Malaysian seafarers, for deck and engine department, respectively, in establishing the distraction-related problem among five other factors involved.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is only providing a scope of knowledge regarding the contribution of potential distraction factors existing on board the offshore ships. However, the potential distraction factors and their contributions, respectively, are very dynamic and may vary, depending on the situation of a particular area and who are being involved.
Practical implications
The result assists the shipping industry in recognizing the actual causes of the occurrences of marine casualties and incidents related to human factors.
Social implications
The benefits are addressed to seafarers’ community where their well-being and work performances could be enhanced, thus reducing the occurrences of marine casualties and incidents. Local community at the shores also will be less threatened by marine pollution caused by the accidents of ships at sea.
Originality/value
The result provides a scope of knowledge regarding distraction-related factors in shipboard operation and also the introduction to a systematic assessment approach to determine and rank the parameters by using the systematic average mean value technique which is also a straightforward method and can be applied in any other circumstances.
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As digital devices (e.g., laptops, tablets) have become increasingly ubiquitous, so too has students’ potential for digital distraction. It is yet unknown how teachers and schools…
Abstract
Purpose
As digital devices (e.g., laptops, tablets) have become increasingly ubiquitous, so too has students’ potential for digital distraction. It is yet unknown how teachers and schools might effectively handle such challenges. Accordingly, this study explores educators’ encounters with digital distraction among students, including their work toward addressing the problem.
Design/methodology/approach
This mixed-methods case study drew upon interview and survey data. Data were analyzed to describe educators’ encounters with and problem solving around digital distraction. This included the use of social network analysis. Specifically, a core-periphery model helped illuminate patterns in collaborative problem solving.
Findings
Students’ distractions included online entertainment and sending messages. This added to an overall atmosphere of distractedness in classrooms. Rather than collaborate around digital distraction, teachers tended to handle these issues on their own. If teachers did talk to others, these instances were more likely complaints to leaders than peer-to-peer collaborations.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides a descriptive account of one school and its problem solving around digital distraction. Building upon this study, future research might address the effectiveness of approaches for handling distraction, the influence of network structures on problem solving, and the factors influencing educators’ collaboration around technology.
Originality/value
Digital distraction is a new challenge in schools and in society. This study lays groundwork for understanding and addressing this issue. It also demonstrates one way to apply core-periphery analyses toward understanding problem solving.
Sandeep W. Dahake, Abhaykumar M. Kuthe, Jitendra Chawla and Mahesh B. Mawale
The purpose of this paper is to develop a workflow for design and fabrication of customized surgical guides (CSGs) for placement of the bidirectional extraoral distraction…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a workflow for design and fabrication of customized surgical guides (CSGs) for placement of the bidirectional extraoral distraction instruments (EDIs) in bilateral mandibular distraction osteogenesis (MDO) surgery to treat the bilateral temporomandibular joint ankylosis with zero mouth opening.
Design/methodology/approach
The comprehensive workflow consists of six steps: medical imaging; virtual surgical planning (VSP); computer aided design; rapid prototyping (RP); functional testing of CSGs and mock surgery; and clinical application. Fused deposition modeling, an RP process was used to fabricate CSGs in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene material. Finally, mandibular reconstruction with MDO was performed successfully using RP-assisted CSGs.
Findings
Design and development of CSGs prior to the actual MDO surgery improves accuracy, reduces operation time and decreases patient morbidity, hence improving the quality of surgery. Manufacturing of CSG is easy using RP to transfer VSP into the actual surgery.
Originality/value
This study describes an RP-assisted CSGs fabrication for exact finding of both; osteotomy site and drilling location to fix EDI’s pins accurately in the mandible; for accurate osteotomy and placement of the bidirectional EDIs in MDO surgery to achieve accurate distraction.
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