An Investigation and Analysis of Information Overload in Manager's Work

doi:10.4236/ib.2011.31008

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iBusiness, 2011, 3, 49-52

doi:10.4236/ib.2011.31008 Published Online March 2011 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ib)

An Investigation and Analysis of Information

Overload in Manager’s Work

Tao Li 1, Min Li 2

1Department of Social Science, Air Force College in Xuzhou, Xuzhou, China; 2School of Economics and Management, Nanjing

University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China.

Email: [email protected].

Received November 6th, 2010; revised December 23rd, 2010; accepted December 28th, 2010.

ABSTRACT

The problem of information overload in management field has been receiving increasing attention, while there are less

empirical researches now. This paper proposes a conceptual model and some operational variables, in which informa-

tion overload is as an interven ing va riab le between th e facto rs of cau ses an d impa cts. An in vestiga tion and analysis has

been conducted from a selected sample of managers. This research suggests that work efficiency and work quality are

both not strongly connected with information overload. We also find that the main causes of information overload are

the work interrup tion and work time pressure but the amount o f information.

Keywords: Info rmat i on Overload, Investigation, Analysis, Ma nager’s Work

1. Introduction

Information overload is at first a term popularized by

Alvin Toffler that refers to the difficulty a person can

have understanding an issue and making decisions that

can be caused by the presence of too much information.

Alvin Toffler cautioned us and pointed to research on

information overload on human behavior [1]. The

studies of information overload begun from the early

days of century twenty and increased from 1960’s.

More recently, the topic has been linked with the rapid

development of the Internet usage and the information

explosion in the amount of data.

Although the information overload is being focused in

management circle and other fields, therefore, up to now,

mainly researches of information overload are common-

sense assumptions, such as Klapp’s work [2]. Most of

researchers stress a negative phenomenon that should

suppress or eliminated. The developments to deal with

performance of computer tools to deal with performance

problems supposedly caused by information overload has

been a common subject in management field, yet careful

research investigations of issues related to information

overload have been limited.

The authors provide here an overview of information

overload and its causes, from a work process centered

point of view, by summarizing previous research find-

ings through a concept causal model. This research then

investigates the model to discuss the factors which may

give rise to information overload, and the impacts of in-

formation overload on work efficiency and quality.

2. The Causes and Impacts of Information

Overload

2.1. The Concept of Information Overload

In ordinary language, the term information overload is

often used to convey the simple notion of receiving too

much information. Within the research community, this

everyday use of the term has led to various synonyms,

and related terms, such as cognitive overload, sensory

overload, communication overload, and knowledge

overload information which brings out the fatigue

syndrome [3]. These constructs have been applied to a

variety of situations, ranging from business consulting,

management meetings and the related contexts, in which

information overload has been discussed in much

management-related academic literature [4]. In the

organizational context, frequently the described symp-

toms of information overload on the individual level are

a general lack of perspective, cognitive strain and stress,

lower job satisfaction, and the inability to use infor-

mation to make a suitable decision [5]. The authors in

this study hold that information overload refers to the

phenomena of anxiety and fatigue, while the information

over the individual capability to deal with.

An Investigation and Analysis of Information Overload in Manager’s Work

2.2. Causes of Information Overload

Some researchers hold that there are several variables

involved from a work process-centered view. Informa-

tion overload depends on the nature of work accom-

plished through a process and one of the most important

being the work complexity in Casey’s study [6]. Some

researcher focus on the reason in the succession process,

Schneider once points out that the information overload

comes from interruption [7]. Information overload seems

definitely connected with the amount and nature of

knowledge and skills which are possessed by processing

speed and quality and therefore they influence informa-

tion overload. Apart from the work factors, some studies

show that the person and his or her attitude, qualification,

and experience are another important factor. While ear-

lier studies simply state that a person’s capacity to proc-

ess information is limited, more recent studies include

specific limiting factors such as personal skills. The level

of knowledge and skill coming form experience and per-

sonal traits thus directly affects the capacity to receive

information [8]. On the other hand, the decision style of a

team member can affect how efficiently information is

processed in Glazer's point of view [9].

2.3. Impacts of Information Overload

The explosive development of information and related

communication technologies has brought into focus the

problems of information overload. People find it ever

more difficult to cope with more information they re-

ceive, and increasingly unpredictable side-effects of their

actions. The longer people are subjected to information

overload, the more negative its effects on physical and

mental well-being. A world-wide survey found that two

thirds of managers suffer from increased tension and one

third from ill health because of information overload.

Many academics, corporate decision-makers, and pol-

icy-makers have realized the magnitude and growing

impact of the phenomenon of information overload. Most

of study stresses a negative phenomenon that should be

hold back or eliminated [10]. A task accomplished

through a process is affected by the information overload

experienced by process team member. Meglio believes

that the concentration and speed should be influenced by

information overload and lead to negative results [11],

and information overload is surely an unfavorable factor

of both work efficiency and quality.

2.4. Conceptual Model

Based on the above-mentioned discussions, for our part,

information overload means the phenomena of sick and

psychological anxiety when information over the capac-

ity of individual process. In view of individual and work

dimensions which cause the information overload, Fig-

ure 1 gives a causal model that integrates individual and

work factors affecting information overload, and de-

scribes its impact on work efficiency and quality. This

conceptual model incorporates the process assumptions

and information overload views while the variable in-

formation overload acts as an intervening variable that

mediates the influence of individual and work-related

variables on work efficiency and work quality. Accord-

ingly, it can be investigated that which factors cause the

information overload and, does information overload

significantly affect work efficiency and work quality?

3. Data and Method

This study was base on qualitative and quantitative re-

search data collected from a sample of twenty nine of a

managers training class. All people who were asked to

answer a questionnaire designed by us in the sample have

worked at least for over five years with management oc-

cupation, which could depict the common trait in the

work process.

The data collection instrument was designed to include

measures for each of the factors discussed in Figure 1, as

well as open-ended questions in which the respondents

have been asked. Enough indications and time should be

prepared before the questionnaires are filled in.

The first three factors, Knowledge and skill, Decision

Individual

factors

Work

results

Work

factors

Knowledge and skill

Decision style

Information amount

Work complexity

Work time pressure

Information overload

Work efficiency

Work quality

Figure 1. Causes and impacts of Information overload.

An Investigation and Analysis of Information Overload in Manager’s Work 51

Table 1. Respondents’ trade distribution.

Trade Respondents

Financial 6

Education 7

Energy 2

Transportation 2

Construction 3

Communication 4

Storage 3

Others 2

Total 29

amount, Decision scope belong to the individual aspect.

Paper read, Paper written, Web info absorbing, Web info

transmitting, Work scope, Work interruption, Work time

pressure belong to work aspect. Knowledge and skill

refers to formal training days in one year. Decision

amount and Work interruption mean the related times

which happen in a work day. Paper read, Paper written,

Web info absorbing and Web info transmitting are sur-

veyed based on average pages in a work day. Information

overload refers to the degree of individual perception.

Based on the different factors, two kinds of measure-

ment are given. Decision scope, Decision scope, Work

time pressure, Information overload, work efficiency and

work quality, the six survey items were measured along a

ﬁve-point Likert usage scale.

The questionnaire data were analyzed with the aim of

establishing the existence and comparative strength of

links between individual and work factors and perceived

information overload, as well as between perceived in-

formation overload and its impact on work efficiency and

work quality. This was attained by the calculation of both

descriptive statistics for each of the measurement items,

and the Spearman correlation coefficient. The data were

analyzed by SPSS.

4. Results and Analysis

The correlation coefficients measure the relationship

between different variables through degree of the asso-

ciation which this research investigated. The result can

be found in line twelfth and line thirteenth in Table 2 that

Spearman correlation coefficients are 0.16 and −0.21

between perceived information overload and its impacts

on work efficiency and work quality. This result means

there is no statistical significance of the test has been

affected. Yet both in line eleventh, the result can be

found the statistical significance have been tested be-

tween the information overload with the work time pres-

sure rs = 0.82, P < 0.01, and with the work interruption rs

= 0.65, P < 0.01. Apart from the two items, there is no

other factor has strong relation with information overload

in our investigation.

5. Conclusions

The results and analysis suggest a negative answer to

Table 2. Descriptive statistics for measurement factors.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

1 Knowledge and skill 1

2 Decision amount 0.22 1

3 Decision scope －0.06 0.31 1

4 Paper read 0.24 0.33 0.27 1 rs

5 Paper written 0.32 0.19 －0.25 0.69* 1

6 Web info absorbing 0.26 0.59*－0.12 0.27 0.13 1

7 Web info transmitting 0.19 0.43 0.10 0.35 0.30 0.53* 1

8 Work scope 0.05 0.35 0.21 0.18 0.26 0.35 0.41 1

9 Work interruption －0.08 0.21 0.17 0.29 0.23 0.32 0.43 0.52* 1

10Work time pressure 0.43 0.32 0.12 0.24 0.22 0.29 －0.21 0.43 0.49* 1

11Information overload 0.31 0.28 0.14 0.12 0.23 0.18 －0.26 －0. 14 0.65* 0.82* 1

12Work efficiency 0.16 0.29 －0.33 0.10 0.14 0.06 0.22 －0.26 －0.28 0.56* 0.16 1

13Work quality 0.61

* 0.17 －0.31 0.09 0.18 0.03 0.07 －0.28 －0.11 －0.33 －0.21 0.24 1

Standard deviation 11.8 18.7 1.2 15.8 2.6 36.5 11.3 0.9 14.2 1.2 1.3 1.1 1.3

Median 18.0 4.0 3.0 10.0 2.0 30.0 8.0 2.0 10.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0

Mean 12.7 10.5 2.3 18.1 3.1 68.7 4.9 2.7 12.4 2.8 2.6 2.2 1.9

Minimum 3.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 0.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 4.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0

Maximum 30.0 50.0 4.0 100.0 50.0 150.0 50.0 4.0 50.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0

N = 29；* : P < 0.01（two-tailed test）

An Investigation and Analysis of Information Overload in Manager’s Work

some previous investigation around which this research

was carried out [12]. Our results have shown no signifi-

cant correlation between information overload with work

efficiency and work quality. That is to say, our investiga-

tion data supports the conclusion that there is no obvious

relationship between information overload and the effi-

ciency or quality of works. As for the cause of informa-

tion mainly comes from the work time pressure which

lead to people perceptual information overload. The sec-

ond cause of information overload perhaps comes from

work interruptions. The amount of information could not

give rise to information overload individually. And

therefore, it should be considered within a time frame

when the researcher investigates and analyses the infor-

mation phenomena.

The results in this paper maybe help us to understand

that there are adjustability and complexity in human

adoption in confronting more information amount which

can change according the human learning capacity,

working team and work scope. Reasonable information

overload is not necessarily unhelpful to most tasks. In

some context, information overload will not definitely

decrease work performance, but in the other way round,

increase it. The findings above offer the basis for a new

framework to understand the information overload phe-

nomenon. This research provides the findings base on

study data collected from a relatively small sample base.

Thus, a suggestion for future research is to simple in-

crease the size of sample of individuals researched.

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