There is an effective formula for unlocking employees’ creative potential, according to new research. Employers should incentivize workers to produce an abundance of ideas — even mediocre ones — and then have them step away from the project for an ‘incubation period.’ The researchers found that people who were rewarded simply for churning out ideas,…

If you’re about to buy something online and its only customer review is negative, you’d probably reconsider the purchase, right? It turns out a product’s first review can have an outsized effect on the item’s future — it can even cause the product to fail. Shoppers, retailers and manufacturers alike feel the effects of customer…

Mass customization, where customers order clothing made to their own style tastes and measurements, has been proposed as one solution to overproduction. But the logistical challenges of tailoring garments to individual customer requests and lengthy manufacturing lead times have discouraged most firms from adopting mass customization. They might want to reconsider that decision, according to…

Workers experiencing job and financial insecurity are less likely to follow the CDC’s guidelines for COVID-19, such as physical distancing, limiting trips from home and washing hands, according to a new study. The researchers, who surveyed 745 workers in 43 states, also found that state unemployment benefits and COVID-19 policies affected the connection between economic…

More and more companies are using chatbots in customer services. Due to advances in artificial intelligence and natural language processing, chatbots are often indistinguishable from humans when it comes to communication. But should companies tell customers they are communicating with machines and not with humans? Researchers investigated. Their research found that consumers tend to react…

Working a nontraditional schedule, and checking in at all hours of the day, night and weekends, is not necessarily beneficial for the 21st-century workforce, according to new research. But working a nontraditional schedule, and checking in at all hours of the day, night and weekends, is not necessarily beneficial for the 21st-century workforce, according to…

Single sign-on systems (SSOs) allow us to login to multiple websites and applications using a single username and password combination. But these are third party systems usually handled by Big Tech companies who have been reported to gather and leak personal information without user consent. Now, researchers have developed a new and secure single sign-on…

Researchers executed successful stealth attacks on real and simulated robotic vehicles, revealing vulnerabilities in the attack detection system most commonly used by such vehicles. The researchers, based at UBC’s faculty of applied science, designed three types of stealth attack on robotic vehicles that caused the machines to crash, miss their targets or complete their missions…

A new study shows that people with migraine or frequent tension headaches have a reduced work ability in particularly three areas. The researchers hope that the new knowledge may help workplaces become better at accommodating those suffering from headaches. This is how it may feel for people suffering from migraine or frequent tension headaches. Untreated,…

Just like the COVID-19 vaccine protects against contracting the contagious virus, the collective elements of self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resiliency helps inoculate employees from the negative effects of working through a pandemic, according to a new study. Jeffery Houghton, management professor, had studied how college students coped with stress through adaptive (i.e. exercise, meditation, social…