The benefits of a nap during prolonged work and wakefulness

Prolonged work scenarios with demands for sustained performance are increasingly common. Because sleep loss inevitably compromises functioning in such situations, napping has been proposed as a countermeasure. The optimal timing of the nap relative to its benefits for performance and mood is not known, however. To address this issue, 41 healthy adults were permitted a two-hour nap at one of five times during a 56-hour period of intermittent work, with no other sleep. Naps were placed 12 hours apart, near the circadian peak (P) or trough (T), and were preceded by 6(P), 18(T), 30(P), 42(T), or 54(P) hours of wakefulness. Work test bouts occurred every few hours and consisted of a variety of psychomotor and cognitive tasks as well as mood scales completed at the beginning, middle and end of each bout. A total of eight performance and 24 mood parameters were derived from the bouts and compared between groups at all test points prior to and following the naps. An estimate of the extent to which each nap condition differed from the control (P54) condition was derived by totalling the proportion of test points that yielded statistically significant results relative to the total number of tests conducted both before and after naps.

Although all performance and most mood parameters displayed a circadian-modulated deterioration as the protocol progressed, a nap appeared to attentuate the extent of this change in all performance parameters but not in mood parameters. Overall, the timing of the nap across days and within the circadian cycle was irrelevant to its effect on performance, suggesting that it diminished the intrusion of sleepiness into behavioural functioning, even though subjects were phenomenally unaware of this benefit.     

The benefits of a nap during prolonged work and wakefulness

Abstract

Prolonged work scenarios with demands for sustained performance are increasingly common. Because sleep loss inevitably compromises functioning in such situations, napping has been proposed as a countermeasure. The optimal timing of the nap relative to its benefits for performance and mood is not known, however. To address this issue, 41 healthy adults were permitted a two-hour nap at one of five times during a 56-hour period of intermittent work, with no other sleep. Naps were placed 12 hours apart, near the circadian peak (P) or trough (T), and were preceded by 6(P), 18(T), 30(P), 42(T), or 54(P) hours of wakefulness. Work test bouts occurred every few hours and consisted of a variety of psychomotor and cognitive tasks as well as mood scales completed at the beginning, middle and end of each bout. A total of eight performance and 24 mood parameters were derived from the bouts and compared between groups at all test points prior to and following the naps. An estimate of the extent to which each nap condition differed from the control (P54) condition was derived by totalling the proportion of test points that yielded statistically significant results relative to the total number of tests conducted both before and after naps.

Although all performance and most mood parameters displayed a circadian-modulated deterioration as the protocol progressed, a nap appeared to attentuate the extent of this change in all performance parameters but not in mood parameters. Overall, the timing of the nap across days and within the circadian cycle was irrelevant to its effect on performance, suggesting that it diminished the intrusion of sleepiness into behavioural functioning, even though subjects were phenomenally unaware of this benefit.     

忠诚计划中不同感知价值与计划忠诚和品牌忠诚的关系

忠诚计划能否创造顾客忠诚,以航空公司常旅客计划为背景,从感知价值视角探讨忠诚计划与顾客忠诚之间的关系,依据价值性质将忠诚计划分为经济功能价值和社交情感价值,将计划忠诚的概念进一步细分为态度计划忠诚和行为计划忠诚,以便更好地理解忠诚计划中的顾客忠诚行为.研究发现,忠诚计划能创造顾客忠诚,经济功能价值促成行为计划忠诚,社交情感价值促成态度计划忠诚,两类感知价值通过计划忠诚的中介作用影响企业的品牌忠诚.     

Need for leadership as a moderator of the relationships between leadership and individual outcomes

Earlier research on situational leadership theories has produced little and partly contradictory evidence about the role of situational moderator variables in explaining the relationship between leadership and outcomes. In this article, we propose to concentrate on need for leadership as a singular moderator of the relationships between leadership and employee outcomes. Using a sample of 958 Dutch employees from various organizations, the moderator hypothesis was tested. Need for leadership was paired with three leadership factors and five outcome variables, generating 15 possible moderating effects. Five of these were significant. Although the findings compare favorably with other studies using leadership moderators, the effects are weak, and there is not much evidence that leadership–outcome relations are reversed by need for leadership.     

Development of sustainable platform for modular product family: a case study

Abstract

Defining product platform architecture is a critical issue to design and develop product variants. Different factors are highly dependent on the architecture type, such as number of variants, to measure modularity level, component commonality, market demand, etc. It is directly related to manage product portfolios and setting up business plan of a company. Before defining a product platform, whether it is modular or integral product designers need to follow specific design guidelines and checklists. This research mainly focuses on to define the platform architecture as well as provides necessary design guidelines and checklists for the product designers. It also highlights an example product of a case company with the objective to clarify/validate the proposed product design approach. In conclusion, this paper outlines the findings from this research and proposed some critical questions need to be answered within the scope of future research potentials.     

Risky Business: Perceived Behavior of Local Scientists and Community Support for Their Research

Attracting new technologies to a region can mean significant economic growth, so understanding why some communities may not favor becoming “the next Silicon Valley” merits consideration. This study investigates the relationship among the perceived behavior of local scientists and community members' attitudes toward their research. Drawing on theories from organizational justice, it hypothesizes that when local residents consider scientists as more just in their behavior, they will also have more favorable attitudes toward the scientists and their research. Just, in this sense, refers to whether scientists are perceived as fair in terms of outcomes, procedures, interpersonal treatment, and explanations in their dealings with the community. Favorable attitudes are measured in terms of concern about new technologies and satisfaction with research. Data were collected via a mail survey of residents in two upstate New York counties (N= 1,306) that host substantial technology research facilities. Controlling for demographics, media use, basic science knowledge, and technology awareness, the results show that distributive justice (i.e., fairness of outcomes) had a consistent, negative relationship with technology concern. In comparison, all four justice variables were positively related with research satisfaction. The findings suggest that the perceived behavior of local scientists may indeed impact community support for their research.     

Perceived intent of supervisor as a moderator of the relationships between abusive supervision and counterproductive work behaviours

This study examined the relationship between perceived intent of supervisors and subordinates' counterproductive responses to abusive supervision. Data were collected in two waves approximately one month apart from 268 full-time employees from the United States and in various occupations. Two forms of perceived intent of abusive supervision were assessed: hostile intent (i.e. abuse believed to be intended to cause harm to the subordinate) and motivational intent (i.e. abuse believed to be intended to motivate good performance from the subordinate). In general, subordinates who reported greater frequency of abusive supervision of both types at Wave 1 were more likely to engage in counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs) at Wave 2 than those who reported less abuse. As hypothesized, abusive supervision was more strongly associated with CWBs when perceived hostile intent was high rather than low. Contrary to expectations, abusive supervision was also more strongly associated with CWBs when perceived motivational intent was high rather than low. Our findings show that abuse by supervisors can result in CWBs by subordinates even if those subordinates believe that the abuse is intended to be motivational.     

用户生成内容的图文匹配对消费者感知有用性的影响

 互联网带来的“信息爆炸”使消费者更频繁地借助用户生成内容获取产品信息和产品使用体验。用户生成内容的感知效应和劝说效应深刻地影响着消费者的购买决策,感知效应增加了消费者对产品或服务的感知,劝说效应增加了消费者的购买意愿。Web 2.0时代,网络口碑的主要形式为图片评论和文字评论,目前图文结合的用户生成内容作为网络口碑的新形式受到广泛关注。        从图文一致性和图文位置关系两个视角剖析图文结合的用户生成内容对消费者感知有用性的影响,为增加研究结果的内部效度,采用情景模拟实验法,通过4个实验,借助SPSS统计分析软件对实验数据进行处理,均以中国某高校的本科学生作为样本。        根据双重通道编码理论,研究1验证图文结合的用户生成内容是更有效的网络口碑传播形式。研究2从图片类型出发,检验消费者感知有用性的差异,并验证产品类别对图文结合的用户生成内容与消费者感知有用性之间的调节作用。结果表明,对于享乐型产品,社会型图片比功能型文本对消费者更有用;对于实用型产品,功能型图片比功能型文本和社会型文本对消费者来说更有用。研究3以图文的空间距离作为自变量、以消费者感知有用性作为因变量进行研究,结果表明,与图文远离呈现的用户生成内容相比,当消费者浏览的是图文临近呈现的用户生成内容时,其感知有用性更高。研究4在研究3的基础上对图文位置关系进行深入研究,结果表明,如果消费者更关注文本信息,左图右文的图文位置关系更有助于消费者理解产品信息;如果消费者更关注图片信息,上图下文的图文位置关系更有用;如果消费者对文本和图片信息都比较关注,右图左文或下图上文的图文位置关系更有用。        研究结果不仅对深化和完善图文结合的用户生成内容相关理论具有理论意义,而且对指导营销者和电子商务网站进行营销创新、增强营销效果和帮助消费者了解产品信息有重要的现实意义。     

Perceived Value of the Mass‐Customized Product and Mass Customization Experience for Individual Consumers

The operations management literature on mass customization mainly focuses on the questions of whether and how manufacturers can efficiently deliver customization. Researchers have analyzed the trade‐offs between customization and dimensions of operational performance such as delivery times, quality, and costs. However, we argue that providing efficient customization is not sufficient per se to assess the value of mass customization. From this perspective, this paper focuses on complementary mechanisms for creating value: the benefits perceived by individual consumers. Two global components of perceived value within the context of mass customization are identified: mass‐customized product, with three dimensions, and mass customization experience, with two dimensions. The Consumer‐Perceived Value Tool (CPVT) is proposed to empirically measure the five perceived benefits related to the mass‐customized product and to the codesign process from the consumer viewpoint. The psychometric properties of the CPVT are assessed using three samples. The implications of this approach are discussed, along with directions for further research.     

Perceived Risk, Stigma, and Potential Economic Impacts of a High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository in Nevada

This study investigates the potential impacts of the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, upon tourism, retirement and job-related migration, and business development in Las Vegas and the state. Adverse impacts may be expected to result from perceptions of risk, stigmatization, and socially amplified reactions to "unfortunate events" associated with the repository (major and minor accidents, discoveries of radiation releases, evidence of mismanagement, attempts to sabotage or disrupt the facility, etc.). The conceptual underpinnings of risk perception, stigmatization, and social amplification are discussed and empirical data are presented to demonstrate how nuclear images associated with Las Vegas and the State of Nevada might trigger adverse economic effects. The possibility that intense negative imagery associated with the repository may cause significant harm to Nevada's economy can no longer be ignored by serious attempts to assess the risks and impacts of this unique facility. The behavioral processes described here appear relevant as well to the social impact assessment of any proposed facility that produces, uses, transports, or disposes of hazardous materials.     

Perceived leader integrity: Supporting the construct validity and utility of a multi-dimensional measure in two samples

The empirical study of perceived leader integrity has lagged its intuitively appealing role as a fundamental characteristic of effective leaders. Following theoretical examinations of the definition of integrity and previous work arguing that perceived integrity emerges from judgments of leader consistency and leader morality, we developed a multidimensional measure that includes both perceived morality and consistency items. In a first sample of university students, confirmatory factor analyses and results from regression analyses relating the dimensions to direct measures of leader integrity and trust offer partial support for the utility of including dimensions of moral behavior and consistency (represented by behavioral integrity). Further, we replicated these findings in a second sample of working professionals and found support for our hypotheses showing that dimensions assessing behavioral integrity and moral behavior related to leader effectiveness, job satisfaction, work engagement, and intent to quit as mediated by trust in the leader.     

Drivers and outcomes of eco-design initiatives: a cross-country study of Malaysia and Australia

Review of Managerial Science - In this study, we have developed and empirically tested a model of the antecedents of eco-design initiatives and their outcome using data that was collected from 255...     

Exploration of the impact of organisational context on a workplace safety and health intervention

ABSTRACT

The Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP) was designed to increase workers’ safety and health using supervisor/leadership training. SHIP was implemented and evaluated in a cluster randomized controlled trial with 20 supervisors and 292 construction crew members representing a high-risk industry. The intervention had three components: (1) computer-based training to teach supervisors ways to better support worker safety and work-life challenges; (2) supervisor behavioural self-monitoring to facilitate transfer of training to practice; and (3) team-based discussions with supervisors and work crew members to identify challenges and opportunities for improvement with 30, 60, and 90 day follow-up check-in meetings. Main effects for the intervention on perceptions of family supportive supervisor behaviors, team effectiveness, and work-life effectiveness were not found, suggesting that the pre-intervention context could help explain the lack of intervention effects. We found that the intervention was more beneficial for work crew members who had poorer pre-intervention perceptions of their supervisor (lower leader-member exchange) and lower perceived team cohesion, suggesting the important impact of the organisational context on intervention effects. We argue that perhaps these work crews were more ready for change and improvements in functioning than were the crews that were already functioning well.     

Essence taxonomy of Brazilian family businesses and conceptual implications for governance strategy

Journal of Management and Governance - This study advances the discussion on the governance of family businesses in emerging markets by exploring a taxonomy based on the F-PEC model in order to...     

Participatory analysis of accidents and incidents as a tool for increasing safety behaviour in fishermen. A pilot intervention study

Although occupational accidents are common in fishery, safety work is often not given priority by the fishermen. The aims of this study were to test a group-based intervention for increased activity in safety work through group discussion of accident/incident experience; to study occurred incidents/accidents and how such events were managed; and to study intervention effects on activity in safety work, risk acceptance and perceived manageability of risks. A sample of men from five crews (11 men) of Swedish fishermen participated. The study had a one group pre-test-post-test design for questionnaire data. The emphasis was on qualitative information collected during the intervention and interviews. The results indicated that accident causes could be appraised as being unmanageable even when technical solutions were possible. Psychological factors may cause incidents not to be documented or discussed. Incident experience seldom leads to preventive measures. Interaction between structural, social and psychological factors seemed to explain this. Questionnaires, observations and interview data suggested that some increase in safety work took place during the intervention. After the discussions the participants perceived risks to be less manageable. The study indicated that, although sensitive to dropout, participative safety interventions in fishery are feasible and may be effective. A longer or more intensive intervention may be necessary in order to progress from problem orientation to action orientation.     

Participatory analysis of accidents and incidents as a tool for increasing safety behaviour in fishermen. A pilot intervention study

Abstract

Although occupational accidents are common in fishery, safety work is often not given priority by the fishermen. The aims of this study were to test a group-based intervention for increased activity in safety work through group discussion of accident/incident experience; to study occurred incidents/accidents and how such events were managed; and to study intervention effects on activity in safety work, risk acceptance and perceived manageability of risks. A sample of men from five crews (11 men) of Swedish fishermen participated. The study had a one group pre-test–post-test design for questionnaire data. The emphasis was on qualitative information collected during the intervention and interviews. The results indicated that accident causes could be appraised as being unmanageable even when technical solutions were possible. Psychological factors may cause incidents not to be documented or discussed. Incident experience seldom leads to preventive measures. Interaction between structural, social and psychological factors seemed to explain this. Questionnaires, observations and interview data suggested that some increase in safety work took place during the intervention. After the discussions the participants perceived risks to be less manageable. The study indicated that, although sensitive to dropout, participative safety interventions in fishery are feasible and may be effective. A longer or more intensive intervention may be necessary in order to progress from problem orientation to action orientation.     

Psychometric and Demographic Predictors of the Perceived Risk of Terrorist Threats and the Willingness to Pay for Terrorism Risk Management Programs

A 2009 national telephone survey of 924 U.S. adults assessed perceptions of terrorism and homeland security issues. Respondents rated severity of effects, level of understanding, number affected, and likelihood of four terrorist threats: poisoned water supply; explosion of a small nuclear device in a major U.S. city; an airplane attack similar to 9/11; and explosion of a bomb in a building, train, subway, or highway. Respondents rated perceived risk and willingness to pay (WTP) for dealing with each threat. Demographic, attitudinal, and party affiliation data were collected. Respondents rated bomb as highest in perceived risk but gave the highest WTP ratings to nuclear device. For both perceived risk and WTP, psychometric variables were far stronger predictors than were demographic ones. OLS regression analyses using both types of variables to predict perceived risk found only two significant demographic predictors for any threat—Democrat (a negative predictor for bomb) and white male (a significant positive predictor for airline attack). In contrast, among psychometric variables, severity, number affected, and likelihood were predictors of all four threats and level of understanding was a predictor for one. For WTP, education was a negative predictor for three threats; no other demographic variables were significant predictors for any threat. Among psychometric variables, perceived risk and number affected were positive predictors of WTP for all four threats; severity and likelihood were predictors for three; level of understanding was a significant predictor for two.