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Task Variety in Professional Service Work: When It Helps and When It Hurts

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dc.contributor.authorAvgerinos, Emmanouil
dc.contributor.authorGokpinar, Bilal
dc.contributor.rorhttps://ror.org/02jjdwm75
dc.date.accessioned2025-03-04T11:58:06Z
dc.date.available2025-03-04T11:58:06Z
dc.date.issued2018-03-23
dc.description.abstractIn a wide range of professional service firms, individuals perform a variety of tasks which are highly cognitive and knowledge intensive yet repetitive in nature, providing significant opportunities for learning. In addition, individuals in such environments tend to enjoy considerable discretion in managing when and how they perform their tasks. In light of these observations, we investigate task allocation and timing strategies that may enhance or inhibit learning and productivity for professional service workers. Specifically, we focus on the role of task variety. We use a detailed dataset of 3,275 coronary artery bypass surgeries in a private European hospital over seven years to examine the effect of concurrent and non-concurrent exposure to task variety on learning and productivity on a focal task. We find that while concurrent exposure to variety has a positive impact on focal productivity, non-concurrent exposure to variety has a negative impact on it. Our results also suggest that short term exposure to variety amplifies these relationships.
dc.description.peerreviewedyes
dc.description.statusPublished
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationAvgerinos, E., & Gokpinar, B. (2018). Task variety in professional service work: When it helps and when it hurts. Production and Operations Management, 27(7), 1368-1389. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.12874.
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1111/poms.12874
dc.identifier.issn1937-5956
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14417/3612
dc.issue.number7
dc.journal.titleProduction and Operations Management
dc.language.isoen
dc.page.final1389
dc.page.initial1169
dc.page.total22
dc.publisherSage Journals
dc.relation.departmentOperations & Business Analytics
dc.relation.entityIE University
dc.relation.schoolIE Business School
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.accessRightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed
dc.subject.keywordProfessional service work
dc.subject.keywordTask variety
dc.subject.keywordLearning
dc.subject.keywordProductivity
dc.subject.keywordTask timing
dc.titleTask Variety in Professional Service Work: When It Helps and When It Hurts
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.version.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
dc.volume.number27
dspace.entity.typePublication
relation.isAuthorOfPublication7ae3c782-be2d-4764-bac2-6924d08b0055
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery7ae3c782-be2d-4764-bac2-6924d08b0055
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