To be or not to be stressed: Designing autonomy to reduce stress at work.
Anna Zeuge, Kristina Lemmer, Michael Klesel and 3 others
PMID 36744355WHAT IT FOUND
Forcing employees to stop working was linked to higher self-reported stress than leaving them free to decide.
In a small scenario experiment, a message about lost leisure time produced stress similar to no intervention.
Key findings
01Perceived stress was rated 5.45 on the 7-point scale in the enforcement scenario, 4.00 in the nudge scenario, and 3.42 in the autonomy scenario.
02Perceived autonomy was rated 2.27 on the 7-point scale in the enforcement scenario, 4.24 in the nudge scenario, and 5.00 in the autonomy scenario.
03The nudge and autonomy scenarios did not differ significantly on perceived stress.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study used a fictional email scenario on a workstation computer, not real work or clinical settings. Perceived stress was measured with one self-rated item, not objective stress measures. The final analysed sample was 51 participants, which the authors describe as small. Participants were online knowledge workers from a few countries, not patients or therapy staff. The experiment manipulated only technology design, not personal or organisational factors such as supervisor expectations.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the lower stress scores as evidence that nudging prevents overwork or improves health. Participants rated a fictional email scenario on one stress item, and the final sample was 51 people.