Physiological Measurement in the Organizational Sciences: A Review and Recommendations for Future Use

Abstract

We review recent literature in the organizational sciences that uses some form of physiological measurement. We organize our review in terms of the underlying constructs that physiological measures were intended to assess. The majority of such constructs represents stress, health, or arousal, although these constructs are often studied in an attempt to understand a diverse set of other phenomena. The majority of the studies we discuss use peripheral measures of the autonomic nervous system or biological indicators of various physiological subsystems, such as the cardiovascular, metabolic, or immunological. Advances in instrumentation and biological assaying methods have made the use of physiological measures more feasible, and in some cases, affordable for researchers without specialized training in physiology. The significant challenges we discuss mostly concern issues of sampling and timing, as well as the careful selection of physiological indicators to fit the theoretical demands of the research.