When the Tasks Line Up

How the Nature of Supplementary Tasks Affects Worker Productivity

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3384125
AutoresAruna Ranganathan (0000-0003-2110-6798, Aruna Ranganathan is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen76
Número3
Páginas556-585
Fecha de publicación2023-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaIndustrial and Labor Relations Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0019-7939 • E-ISSN: 2162-271X
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00197939221149999
OpenAlexW4318191303
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas50

Jobs consist of bundles of tasks, with most jobs involving one or a few core tasks as well as supplementary tasks. In this article, the author argues that, keeping constant the number of supplementary tasks performed, the nature of these tasks can affect workers' productivity in their core task. The study uses quantitative and qualitative data to study tea pickers at a plantation in India. Using fine-grained personnel data on workers' task assignments and their daily productivity, the author finds that workers' productivity is affected by the extent to which their supplementary tasks are facilitative of their core task, when comparing workers performing the same number of supplementary tasks. Qualitative data suggest that one way in which performing a facilitative rather than a non-facilitative supplementary task could improve core task productivity is by temporarily boosting what the author calls "core task identification." This article contributes to scholarship on the design of work

Boosting (machine learning) · Cognitive psychology · Core (optical fiber) · Economic growth · Economics · Management · Productivity · Scholarship · Task (project management) · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development · Psychology · Quality and Supply Management