Human Performance ( IF 2.972 ) Pub Date : 2021-01-28 , DOI: 10.1080/08959285.2021.1878182 Cristina Baldissarri 1 , Luca Andrighetto 2
ABSTRACT
Workers’ instrumental treatment is commonly seen as a strategic way to reach organizational goals. Drawing on relevant recent literature, this paper sought to show experimentally that instrumental treatment is instead associated with negative outcomes for the individual and the organization. We sought to demonstrate that treating people as instruments would lead them to self-objectify – to self-perceive as objects rather than human beings – which would result in them being less engaged in a given task, thus undermining their performance. Study 1 was designed to provide a first test of our hypotheses by manipulating the instrumental (vs. non-instrumental) treatment enacted by an experimenter toward naïve participants (N = 85) during the performance of a cognitive task. Study 2 consisted in a simulated online work activity in which participants (N = 147) were asked to play the role of a proofreader for a fictitious newspaper, while being treated in an instrumental (vs. non-instrumental) way by the editorial staff. The results provided convergent evidence about the hypothesized process: being instrumentally (vs. non-instrumentally) treated leads people to self-objectify (i.e., to self-perceive as more instrument-like than human) and, in turn, their engagement with the task and performance are undermined. Implications for organizational and social psychology research are discussed.
中文翻译:
被当作一种工具:工具处理和自我目标化对任务参与和绩效的影响
摘要
工人的工具治疗通常被视为实现组织目标的战略方法。借助相关的最新文献,本文试图通过实验表明,器械治疗反而会给个人和组织带来负面结果。我们试图证明,将人们视为工具会导致他们自我客体化-自我感知为客体而不是人类-这将导致他们减少从事某项特定任务的能力,从而损害了他们的绩效。研究1旨在通过操纵实验者针对纯朴的参与者(N= 85)在执行认知任务时。研究2包含一个模拟的在线工作活动,其中要求参与者(N = 147)充当虚拟报纸的校对者,同时由编辑人员以工具性(而非非工具性)方式对待。结果为假设的过程提供了趋同的证据:被工具性对待(相对于非工具性对待)导致人们自我客观化(即,自我感觉比人类更像工具),进而使他们与任务和性能受到破坏。讨论了对组织和社会心理学研究的意义。