http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
an examination of the impact of changes in task methods and social information on worker job characteristics, perceptions, attitudes, and performance
This study examines the impact of changes in the method of task performance and changes in the social cues in and around the job on the perceptions, attitudes, and performance of workers. People react to and form perceptions of their jobs based on the characteristics of the tasks they must perform. The Job Characteristics Theory suggests that, as the measures of specific characteristic variables of a job increase, the workers' motivation, satisfaction, and performance will increase. The changes examined in this study compared manual and computerized tasks. In addition, workers form perceptions of their jobs based on the information they receive about the jobs and tasks from the social environment. The Social Information Processing Model explains this process. Neither model, however, is able to capture the full range of perception and attitude change. A combination of the two approaches has provided a stronger approach. A laboratory study was conducted to compare the effects of two methods of task performance -- manual and computerized -- and two types of social cues -- positive and negative --on the perceptions, attitudes, and performance of the subjects. Significant effects were found for both changes in the method of task performance and in changes in social information. A greater number of significant effects were found for the social cues. These results are consistent with other research. The implications of these findings are discussed. Additional discussion examines future research directions on the impact of technology change and social information change on worker perceptions.