Management Accounting Section Midyear Meeting

The Spillunder Effect of Cognitive Intrusion on Task Performance and the Role of Feedback Frequency in Sequential Task Environments

• In Event: Reporting Frequency

Abstract

Our study investigates the role of cognitive intrusion in a multiple task environment. We examine whether information about future tasks negatively affect the performance on the current task. We also examine whether frequent feedback on the current task can mitigate the negative effect. Based on prior research and theory of intrusion we predict and find that when employees are informed about a forthcoming task, they tend to perform poorly on their current task owing to the attention depletion caused by unfulfilled tasks. We further predict and find that the negative effect of unfulfilled tasks is mitigated when frequent feedback is provided on the performance of current task. Additional analyses confirm the indirect effect of intrusion on task performance through attention depletion. We contribute to the literature on performance management and offer practical insights on the design of control systems for directing employee attention in sequential task environments.

Authors

• Anil S. Kshatriya, University of Amsterdam

• Hari Ramasubramanian, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management