Abstract
BackgroundWork stress affects individual health and well-being. These negative effects could be mitigated through regular monitoring of employees’ stress. Such monitoring becomes even more important as the digital transformation of the economy implies profound changes in working conditions.ObjectiveThe goal of this study was to investigate the association between computer mouse movements and work stress in the field.MethodsWe hypothesized that stress is associated with a speed-accuracy trade-off in computer mouse movements. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a longitudinal field study at a large business organization, where computer mouse movements from regular work activities were monitored over 7 weeks; the study included 70 subjects and 1829 observations. A Bayesian regression model was used to estimate whether self-reported acute work stress was associated with a speed-accuracy trade-off in computer mouse movements.ResultsThere was a negative association between stress and the two-way interaction term of mouse speed and accuracy (mean −0.32, 95% highest posterior density interval −0.58 to −0.08), which means that stress was associated with a speed-accuracy trade-off. The estimated association was not sensitive to different processing of the data and remained negative after controlling for the demographics, health, and personality traits of subjects.ConclusionsSelf-reported acute stress is associated with computer mouse movements, specifically in the form of a speed-accuracy trade-off. This finding suggests that the regular analysis of computer mouse movements could indicate work stress.
Highlights
Stress in the workplace is responsible for over 120,000 deaths and US $187 billion in annual health care spending in the United States [1]
There was a negative association between stress and the two-way interaction term of mouse speed and accuracy, which means that stress was associated with a speed-accuracy trade-off
Self-reported acute stress is associated with computer mouse movements, in the form of a speed-accuracy trade-off
Summary
Stress in the workplace is responsible for over 120,000 deaths and US $187 billion in annual health care spending in the United States [1] To mitigate this burden, work stress must be monitored and managed. The need for workplace stress management increases even further as the digital transformation of the economy implies profound changes in working conditions [2]. The evidence from these studies is, so far, based on lab experiments using artificially designed computer tasks It remains unclear whether an association between stress and the use of the computer mouse can be observed in the field. These negative effects could be mitigated through regular monitoring of employees’ stress Such monitoring becomes even more important as the digital transformation of the economy implies profound changes in working conditions
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