Ah, commuting — bad for work I believe?!
Well not quite — it depends…
I thought the research was consistent that commuting is our most miserable time of day…
Not really. Yes, there is a lot of research to say that commuting is not pleasurable but this can also be offset by nicer living locations which lower stress at other times.
Also there is a lot of research that measures stress and mood while commuting but not workplace performance or outcomes. This is why this research by Shayan Mirjafari et al. from Dartmouth College is interesting.
What did they measure?
They collected data using wearable technology (fitness trackers and smartphones) from 274 people over a 1-year period (pre pandemic). They also analysed data this for 30 minutes before and after commuting.
Also importantly they collected two measures in the workplace namely counterproductive work behaviour (bad behaviour) and organizational citizenship behaviour (good behaviour). These tend to lower or improve job performance respectively.
OK and what did they find?
A bunch of interesting things:
- High performers tend to have physiological indicators that show physical fitness and…
