Interruptions are important phenomena in organizations, and researchers debate their effects on performance. This paper reviews the literature and argues that the degree of fit between task demands and an actors capacity determines whether the effects of interruptions on performance are positive or negative. The fit model hypothesizes that for actors working with a capacity deficit (i.e., their capacity scarcely meet the task demands), interruptions have detrimental effects on performance. Moreover, the greater the actors capacity, the less negative their reactions to interruptions will be. Time diaries, surveys, and archival studies were conducted among 92 public school principals in an urban school district in the eastern United States. The results support the hypothesis on the main effects of interruptions and partially support the proposed moderating effects of individual effort. The contributions of this research and its implications for future work are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-10212006-001733 |
| Date | 16 January 2007 |
| Creators | Gong, Baiyun |
| Contributors | Dennis F. Galletta, Gary W. Florkowski, Frits K. Pil, Richard L. Moreland, Carrie R. Leana |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-10212006-001733/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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