Interruptions to workflow: Their relationship with irritation and satisfaction with performance, and the mediating roles of time pressure and mental demands

Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms of workflow interruptions is crucial for reducing employee strain and maintaining performance. This study investigates how interruptions affect perceptions of performance and irritation by employing a within-person approach. Such interruptions refer to intruding secondary tasks, such as requests for assistance, which occur within the primary task. Based on empirical evidence and action theory, it is proposed that the occurrence of interruptions is negatively related to satisfaction with one's own performance and positively related to forgetting of intentions and the experience of irritation. Mental demands and time pressure are proposed as mediators. Data were gathered from 133 nurses in German hospitals by means of a five-day diary study (four measurements taken daily; three during a morning work shift and one after work, in the evening). Multilevel analyses showed that workflow interruptions had detrimental effects on satisfaction with one's own performance, the forgetting of intentions, and irritation. The mediation effects of mental demands and time pressure were supported for irritation and (partially) supported for satisfaction with performance. They were not supported for the forgetting of intentions. These findings demonstrate the importance of reducing the time and mental demands associated with interruptions.

Keywords:

• workflow interruptions
• diary study
• time pressure
• mental demands
• performance
• irritation
• work stress
• nurses

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin.