Title: Mood-tracking application as persuasive technology for reduction of occupational stress

Authors: Sanaz Alavian Ghavanini; Elaheh Homayounvala; Ali Rezaeian

Addresses: Department of Information Technology Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran ' Cyberspace Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran ' Department of Information Technology Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Occupational stress is a major concern in the job performance of employees. The use of persuasive technologies is one way to prevent or reduce this stress. The present study developed a mood tracking application and tested its effect on stress reduction of employees. Twenty-six employees of a petrochemical company were divided into equally-sized groups of married and single participants. Employees' accommodations are different based on their marital status. Other variables effecting stress were same for both groups. An OSI-R questionnaire was used to collect data before and after four weeks of application use. In present pilot study, data analysis shows that this kind of persuasive technology can have a significant positive effect on single employees and help them to decrease and manage their stress; however, no meaningful results were recorded for the married group because they did not use the application as much as participants in the single group.

Keywords: mobile learning; occupational stress; persuasive technology; self-monitoring; mood-tracking; stress management; organisational training.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMLO.2018.090845

International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation, 2018 Vol.12 No.2, pp.143 - 161

Received: 30 May 2017
Accepted: 02 Nov 2017
Published online: 28 Mar 2018 *

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