The Effect of an Anticipated Reverse Smoking Rule on the Perceived Distraction of Persons Attending Organizational Meetings

Summary

Smokers (n = 41) and nonsmokers (n = 54) were asked to complete parallel questionnaires. Each questionnaire contained 27 questions which described a task-oriented meeting varying in duration and importance or interest value. Three durations (15, 30, and 60 minutes) were crossed with three levels of interest value to produce nine item types. The questionnaires for smokers indicated that for all the meetings smoking was strictly prohibited, while those for the nonsmoker indicated that smoking was allowed and was going on. For each question, subjects were asked to rate the degree of distraction they perceived themselves as experiencing. Nonsmokers perceived themselves as being more distracted by an anticipated reverse smoking rule than did smokers; as length of meeting increased, perceived distraction increased, and as importance of the meeting increased, perceived distraction decreased.