Strain, loss of time, or even gain? A systematic review of technology-based work extending and its ambiguous impact on wellbeing, considering its frequency and duration

Especially in knowledge-intensive professions, workers engage in work-related communication and access digital work content outside of working hours. Scientific research on technology-based work extending has flourished in recent decades, but yielded inconclusive results about its relationship with workers' wellbeing and focused on different temporal characteristics of the behavior. Consequently, in this article, we address the question of whether different temporal characteristics of technology-based work extending, such as the frequency and duration of the behaviour, may have different consequences for workers’ wellbeing. In the course of a systematic literature review, we analysed 78 empirical studies published between 2007 and 2021 that investigate the relationship between the self-rated frequency and the self-rated duration of work extending behaviours and 14 wellbeing indicators. Whereas most studies examined the frequency of work extending behaviours and its consequences, only 19 studies examinded the effects of its duration. Based on our findings, we propose three effects: The strain effect of frequent work extending, the gain effect of sustained work extending, and the loss-of-private-time effect inherent to work extending and independent from its frequency and duration. Our findings not only provide in-depth information on a widespread contemporary behaviour and its psychological implications, we also reveal research gaps and shed light on behaviours associated with role transitions and thus contribute to boundary theory

Learning how to innovate as a socio-epistemological process of co-creation. Towards a constructivist teaching strategy for innovation

Context: Radical constructivism (RC) is seen as a fruitful way to teach innovation, as Ernst von Glasersfeld’s concepts of knowing, learning, and teaching provide an epistemological framework fostering processes of generating an autonomous conceptual understanding. Problem: Classical educational approaches do not meet the requirements for teaching and learning innovation because they mostly aim at students’ competent performance, not at students’ understanding and developing their creative capabilities. Method: Analysis of theoretical principles from the constructivist framework and how they can be used as a foundation for designing a course in the field of innovation. The empirical results are based on qualitative journal entries that were coded and categorized according to Charmaz’s grounded theory approach. Results: It is shown that there is a close relationship between learning and innovation processes. The proposed investigated course design based on RC incorporates the following concepts: the course setting is understood as a framework to guide understanding; students work in teams and are subjective constructors of their own knowledge; instructors take on the role of coaches, guiding students through an innovation process as co-creators. Such a framework facilitates dynamic processes of assimilation and accommodation, as well as perturbation through the “other,” which potentially lead to novel, and viable, conceptual structures crucial for sustainable innovation. Constructivist Content: The paper argues in favor of RC principles in the context of teaching and learning. The proposed course setting is oriented at von Glasersfeld’s understanding of knowing, learning, and teaching (vs. training. It outlines theoretical and practical aspects of these principles in the context of a course design for innovation. Furthermore, it shows the importance of von Glasersfeld’s concept of intersubjectivity for processes of accommodation and the generation of (novel) autonomous conceptual structures. The interplay between creating coherence, perturbation, and irritation through interacting with the “other” (in the form of co-students and instructors) is assumed to be vital for such processes, as it leads to the creation of not only novel but also viable conceptual structures, therefore re-establishing a relative equilibrium critical for sustainable innovation

Learning how to innovate as a socio-epistemological process of co-creation. Towards a constructivist teaching strategy for innovation

Context: Radical constructivism (RC) is seen as a fruitful way to teach innovation, as Ernst von Glasersfeld’s concepts of knowing, learning, and teaching provide an epistemological framework fostering processes of generating an autonomous conceptual understanding. Problem: Classical educational approaches do not meet the requirements for teaching and learning innovation because they mostly aim at students’ competent performance, not at students’ understanding and developing their creative capabilities. Method: Analysis of theoretical principles from the constructivist framework and how they can be used as a foundation for designing a course in the field of innovation. The empirical results are based on qualitative journal entries that were coded and categorized according to Charmaz’s grounded theory approach. Results: It is shown that there is a close relationship between learning and innovation processes. The proposed investigated course design based on RC incorporates the following concepts: the course setting is understood as a framework to guide understanding; students work in teams and are subjective constructors of their own knowledge; instructors take on the role of coaches, guiding students through an innovation process as co-creators. Such a framework facilitates dynamic processes of assimilation and accommodation, as well as perturbation through the “other,” which potentially lead to novel, and viable, conceptual structures crucial for sustainable innovation. Constructivist Content: The paper argues in favor of RC principles in the context of teaching and learning. The proposed course setting is oriented at von Glasersfeld’s understanding of knowing, learning, and teaching (vs. training. It outlines theoretical and practical aspects of these principles in the context of a course design for innovation. Furthermore, it shows the importance of von Glasersfeld’s concept of intersubjectivity for processes of accommodation and the generation of (novel) autonomous conceptual structures. The interplay between creating coherence, perturbation, and irritation through interacting with the “other” (in the form of co-students and instructors) is assumed to be vital for such processes, as it leads to the creation of not only novel but also viable conceptual structures, therefore re-establishing a relative equilibrium critical for sustainable innovation

Does the sole description of a tax authority affect tax evasion? The impact of described coercive and legitimate power.

Following the classic economic model of tax evasion, taxpayers base their tax decisions on economic determinants, like fine rate and audit probability. Empirical findings on the relationship between economic key determinants and tax evasion are inconsistent and suggest that taxpayers may rather rely on their beliefs about tax authority’s power. Descriptions of the tax authority’s power may affect taxpayers’ beliefs and as such tax evasion. Experiment 1 investigates the impact of fines and beliefs regarding tax authority’s power on tax evasion. Experiments 2-4 are conducted to examine the effect of varying descriptions about a tax authority’s power on participants’ beliefs and respective tax evasion. It is investigated whether tax evasion is influenced by the description of an authority wielding coercive power (Experiment 2), legitimate power (Experiment 3), and coercive and legitimate power combined (Experiment 4). Further, it is examined whether a contrast of the description of power (low to high power; high to low power) impacts tax evasion (Experiments 2-4). Results show that the amount of fine does not impact tax payments, whereas participants’ beliefs regarding tax authority’s power significantly shape compliance decisions. Descriptions of high coercive power as well as high legitimate power affect beliefs about tax authority’s power and positively impact tax honesty. This effect still holds if both qualities of power are applied simultaneously. The contrast of descriptions has little impact on tax evasion. The current study indicates that descriptions of the tax authority, e.g., in information brochures and media reports, have more influence on beliefs and tax payments than information on fine rates. Methodically, these considerations become particularly important when descriptions or vignettes are used besides objective information

Flexible working arrangements as privilege or entitlement? Type of access to flexible working arrangements shapes reciprocal beliefs and social exchange relationships in hybrid work teams

Literature suggests that employees reciprocate the ‘privilege’ for flexible working arrangements (FWA) with higher effort. Drawing on social exchange theory, our interview study investigated how leaders shape members’ beliefs about the need to reciprocate the access to FWA. Based on 20 interviews nested in ten teams from two organisations, we analysed how FWA are perceived and negotiated between team leaders and their members, and whether low or high prevalence of FWA in teams plays a role for establishing social exchange relationships. The interviews took place prior to Covid-19. While in one organisation access to FWA was negotiated individually only due to a specific need, in the other organisation it was facilitated more easily and granting FWA had evolved as a social norm. Our findings indicate that in both contexts FWA indeed initiated social exchange relationships, as team members often tried to return the favour for access to FWA by maintaining the performance and/or by showing high flexibility. When FWA were granted to selected members only (low prevalence), ‘score-keeping’ and ‘quid-pro-quo exchanges’ were mentioned as important exchange rules in the accounts. In the organisation with high FWA prevalence, cooperative team routines showed that members felt the need to reciprocate the favour to other team members or the organisation rather than directly to the leader. However, even in this organisation, leaders were able to establish employees’ belief in privilege and their obligation to reciprocate in order for them not to lose access to FWA. Our findings show the role of the leader in shaping and instrumentalising FWA. The study has high practical relevance for hybrid teams and discusses the essential role of leaders in FWA

Podcast: Homeoffice – Fortschritt oder Falle?

Die Covid-Pandemie hat in vielen Lebensbereichen die Digitalisierung beschleunigt und auch unsere Arbeitswelt nachhaltig verändert. Das Arbeiten von Zuhause im Homeoffice wurde stark ausgeweitet und wird weiterhin von vielen Beschäftigten genutzt. Was bedeutet diese Entwicklung in Hinblick auf Gleichstellung? Welche Chancen bieten sich, Frauen in Führungspositionen zu stärken und wo sind die Risiken? Unter welchen Umständen verfestigt Homeoffice die Zuständigkeit von Frauen für unbezahlte Arbeit? Dieser Podcast fasst die wichtigsten Projektergebnisse des Projekts "Smart Working – Frauen in Führungspositionen stärken" zusammen und diskutiert die davon abgeleiteten Strategien

Location-based monitoring in production environments: does transparency help to increase the acceptance of monitoring?

ABSTRACTIn the context of smart manufacturing, the technical development of monitoring systems has made it possible to track employees with the same systems that are used to track assets. This study contributes to our understanding of the acceptance of location-based monitoring of employees and investigates how the perceived privacy risk regarding monitoring can be tackled by examining the role of transparency and the perceived value of monitoring. We designed an experimental setting in which students assembled a 3D printer and manipulated transparency with two conditions: a detailed explanation of monitoring during the task vs. monitoring without any explanation. The results show that the higher the privacy concerns and perceived risks were, the lower was the acceptance for monitoring. However, the negative effect of perceived risk diminishes when both, transparency and the value of monitoring are high, but becomes even stronger when only transparency is high and perceived value is low

Data_Sheet_1_Development and validation of a scale to measure team communication behaviors.docx

IntroductionWith the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work was increased all over the globe. As a consequence, workers had to adapt their communication behaviors to smoothly coordinate work in their flexible teams (i.e., when team members divide work between the office and their homes). Drawing on relational coordination theory, we constructed and validated a scale to capture the most relevant team communication behaviors.MethodsWe employed interviews and focus groups to construct the scale, refined the scale based on three samples with employees working flexibly and finally validated the scale with 130 teams from diverse organizations.ResultsOur scale comprises three dimensions: focused communication, knowledge sharing and spontaneous communication. All three dimensions showed convergent validity with team planning and discriminant validity with time-spatial flexibility. Also, predictive validity with collective efficacy and team viability was achieved for focused communication and knowledge sharing. Spontaneous communication only predicted collective efficacy, but not team viability.DiscussionWe conclude that the TCS is a reliable and valid measure for assessing team communication and contribute by focusing on behaviors.</p

Forest Plot of regression coefficients for coercive power and legitimate power.

<p>Forest Plot of regression coefficients for coercive power and legitimate power.</p