Null plus eins ergibt eins: der Nutzen horizontal erweiterter Aufgaben für die Prävention kurzfristiger Fehlbeanspruchungsfolgen

High repetitive jobs are still very common. To design repetitive jobs previous research has predominantly focused on job enrichment programs neglecting the impact of job enlargement programs. Using an experimental design the present study aimed to test the impact of high repetitive versus enlarged tasks on short-term mental strain, physiological reactions and work performance. Therefore subjects worked for more than 3 hours either on a simulated office task (Experiment 1, N = 160) or an assembly line task (Experiment 2, N = 213). In the second experiment pacing of work was added as a second experimental factor. As predicted, both experiments clearly show the utility of enlarged tasks for subjective well-being, but not for work performance. No consistent results were found for physiological reactions. In conclusion, our study provides clear-cut experimental evidence that even minimal enlarged jobs contribute to the prevention of subjective mental strain. In addition, the findings of both experiments highlight the detrimental effect of paced work on mental strain and work performance.