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This article investigates the interplay between darkness, construal level, and psychological distance based on the link between environmental lighting conditions and visual perception. In the dark, visual perception becomes less focused and detailed, leading to more abstract representations. We argue that this link between physical darkness and a global perceptual processing style spills over to the conceptual level. In three experiments, darkness triggered a more global perceptual and conceptual processing style than did brightness, regardless of whether the darkness was physically manipulated or primed. Additionally, two Implicit Association Tests (IATs) showed that darkness is more strongly associated with high-level construal than with low-level construal. Moreover, drawing on the generalized link between construal level and psychological distance, we proposed that darkness is also linked to perceived psychological distance because the lack of detail information and the abstract representations in the dark remove objects and other persons from people’s direct, detailed experience. Eight IATs confirmed the implicit link between darkness and four dimensions of psychological distance. These implications of these results are discussed with regard to thinking styles and social processes like stereotyping and cooperation.
This research explores stakeholders' perspectives on administrative procedures, focusing on basic psychological needs. The goal is to understand the motives driving evaluations of administrative quality and performance, particularly for constitutive administrative acts. Using a multi-method approach, the study analyzes five stakeholder groups' central motives at different stages of administrative procedures. To achieve this, the user experience journey technique is adapted to identify stakeholders' motivations, including achievement, affiliation, and power. Guided workshop discussions, qualitative expert interviews, and a review of legal sources are utilized to determine stakeholders' urgencies at each step of the process. Through qualitative content analysis of expert interviews, the study deduces the central concepts underlying these urgencies. The findings provide valuable insights into stakeholders' perspectives, motivations, and urgencies regarding administrative procedures and thus important attributes of good administration. This understanding is crucial for evaluating administrative performance and shaping potential goals for administrative reforms.
How can the physical environment, especially light, facilitate conflict resolution? Previous research has led to no clear answers about optimal lighting conditions in conflict situations and, until now, potential moderators and mediators have been scarcely investigated. Building on research on light-induced cooperativeness, we expected that self-oriented individuals would be influenced by the lighting in social situations such as conflict resolution. In self-oriented individuals, dim warm light should promote interdependent self-construal and, in turn, lead to a preference for collaborative conflict resolution strategies. Two studies confirmed our assumptions, with social dominance orientation and trait interdependent self-construal serving as indicators of individuals' social orientation. Overall, these results provide an explanation for inconsistent previous findings and contribute to the understanding of light-induced changes in social behavior. Limitations as well as practical implications for lighting design in social spaces are discussed.
Digitalization affects public servants’ job demands and resources. The current paper investigates which measures managers can employ to optimize digital work on administrative procedures. Building on a previous study on the impact of digitalization on work experiences and performance in public agencies and on a literature research regarding leadership instruments, we derived two sets of measures on job design and digital communication management. The proposed measures were validated conducting expert interviews with actual and prospective managers from various municipal agencies. Overall, our analyses revealed heterogenous patterns regarding the prevalence of the proposed measures. Experts reported various potential benefits and challenges as well as suitable recommendations regarding their implementations which indicates that the proposed measures could indeed contribute to facilitating digital work on administrative procedures. Finally, the practical implications as well as limitations of our approach are discussed.
Germany's public administrations must go digital by law till 2022. The German Online Access Act (our translation for “Onlinezugangsgesetz”, OZG) forces most services offered by public administration on federal, federal state and municipal level to become digitized. For most of these services still being paper-based and Germany not being one of the leaders in e- government according to many sources, the question of user acceptance arises. For answering the question whether the approach used in the digitalization labs leads to the development of digital public services that are accepted by future users, we conducted a heuristic evaluation of a prototype that was developed within the implementation of the OZG. The paper describes the setting, the test undertaken and the outcome and concludes with an estimate, whether the huge paradigm change towards the development of digital public services that are accepted by future users will be successful or not.
Im Zeitalter der Wissensarbeit steigt die Bedeutung mentaler und psychologischer Faktoren wie Konzentrationsfähigkeit, Stimmung und Motivation für eine hohe Leistungsfähigkeit. Die physikalischen Bedingungen an Büroarbeitsplätzen können einerseits einen Stressor darstellen, der die Konzentration erschöpft und den Nutzer ermüdet, oder eine räumliche Ressource, die Arbeitstätigkeiten erleichtert oder Nutzerbedürfnisse befriedigt und dadurch Engagement und Stimmung bei der Arbeit steigert. Inwiefern bestimmte räumliche Bedingungen am Arbeitsplatz eine Ressource oder einen Stressor darstellen, lässt sich anhand der drei Ebenen des Komforts abschätzen: physischer, funktionaler und psychischer Komfort. Ein solcher Ansatz soll helfen, “psychisch nachhaltige“ physikalische Raumbedingungen zu schaffen, die die psychischen Ressourcen der Nutzer schonen. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird dieses neue Verständnis von Komfort mithilfe der zugrunde liegenden psychologischen Prozesse erklärt und am Beispiel der bauphysikalischen Variablen “Beleuchtung“ illustriert.
To deal with stress and exhaustion at work, personal resources need to be replenished during breaks. The aim of this laboratory study (n = 122 students) was to test the restorative potential of sensory-enriched break environments (SEBEs) in a between-subjects with repeated measures design, focusing on the type of the environment (natural outdoor vs. built indoor environment) and sensory input (no sensory input vs. audiovisual input vs. audiovisual and olfactory input). Analyses showed that SEBEs simulating either a natural or a lounge environment were perceived as more pleasant and restorative (fascination/being away) than a standard break room, which in turn facilitated the recovery of personal resources (mood, fatigue, arousal). Moreover, adding a congruent scent to an audiovisual simulation indirectly facilitated the recovery of personal resources via greater scent pleasantness and higher fascination and being away. The current study shows opportunities for sensory enrichment to foster restoration in break environments. Practitioner Summery: This project reveals the impact of the recovery process of simulated environments on personal resources. Analyses confirmed that sensory-enriched environments were perceived as more restorative than less enriched environments, which in turn facilitated the recovery of personal resources. The results highlight the relevance of holistic sensory impressions to fostering recovery.
The aim of this study was to test the effects of a daily positive work reflection intervention on fostering personal resources (i.e., hope and optimism) and decreasing exhaustion (i.e., emotional exhaustion and fatigue) among caregivers for the elderly and caregivers who provide services at patients' homes. Using an intervention/waitlist control group design, 46 caregivers in an intervention group were compared with 44 caregivers in a control group at 3 points of measurement: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at a 2-week follow-up. The results show that emotional exhaustion and fatigue were reduced for the intervention group. Primarily, caregivers with a high need for recovery at baseline benefited from the intervention. The results reveal no intervention effects for personal resources; however, they reveal a trend that the intervention led to an increase in hope and optimism among caregivers with a high need for recovery. Overall, the findings show that caregivers benefit from a daily positive work reflection intervention, particularly when their baseline levels of resources and well-being are low.
Previous research indicates that short work breaks in nature can facilitate emotional recovery, but during a workday nature is not always accessible. We conducted two intervention studies (N = 51; N = 101) applying virtual reality technology in a short work break and examined the effect of the degree of immersion into nature and the type of nature (stimulating vs. calming) on the restorative experience and, in turn, on affective states. The results revealed that high immersion promotes being away and perceived fascination. Being away mediated the effect of high immersion on increased positive and decreased negative affect. Perceived fascination mediated the effect of stimulating nature on increased positive affect in both studies and decreased negative affect in Study 2. The present research highlights the unique benefits of virtual realities, degrees of immersion and different types of nature for recovery interventions in organisations. Practitioner Summary: Integrating virtual realities into the work environment is an emerging topic. The present research demonstrates that a short technology-based intervention via virtual reality enhances emotional recovery. The results provide interesting possibilities for the design of work breaks in situations where nature is not within reach or not accessible.