International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics (4 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• Mental workload assessments in the assembly industry and the way forward: a literature review  
  by Emmie Fogelberg, Peter Thorvald, Ari Kolbeinsson 
  Abstract: The rapid progress of automation within the assembly industry have improved efficiency and productivity but introduced new challenges. Operators physical tasks have been replaced by more cognitively demanding tasks. With increased global distribution, it is almost standard to offer an increased product variety and customisations require more cognitively complex work. Assessment of operators mental workload has gained interest since it can be used to optimise work performance, diminish errors and poor decision-making, reduce risk of employee absenteeism, and monitor operators health. Assessments today focus on either, subjective, physiological, or performance-based parameters to examine mental workload. The rapid literature review aims to map the domain of mental workload assessments, explicitly in the assembling industry, by targeting its history, preferences, and future trends. It investigates which assessments that have been employed historically. Secondly, examines the body of literature and potential instrument preferences. At last, explores future trends of mental workload assessments.
  Keywords: mental workload assessment; literature review; assembly; NASA-TLX; Industry 4.0.
  
  
• Social and healthcare workers’ occupational safety and health in clients’ homes using a work system framework  
  by Maria Lindholm, Johanna Pulkkinen, Jouni Kivistö-Rahnasto 
  Abstract: The need for home care services has increased and will continue to do so owing to demographic ageing. However, home care employees face multiple occupational safety and health (OSH) challenges while working in a clients home. To identify these challenges in the social and healthcare sectors, a work system framework, which includes various elements individual (employee), technology and tools, organisation, environment and task, was applied. Semi-structured interviews (n = 55) were conducted, and the data was analysed using thematic categorisation. The results suggested that the employees lacked additional safety training, proper equipment and the necessary competence to use them. There were poor work schedules, unclear work tasks and unsuitable work environment, all posing various challenges for the workers. Hence, future studies should aim to explore better OSH development measures.
  Keywords: clients; employees; home care; human factors and ergonomics; occupational safety and health; OSH; systems engineering initiative for patient safety; social and healthcare; work system; work scheduling.
  
  
• How individual differences in cultural values and cognitive style affect perceived usability of e-commerce websites  
  by Jay Jung, Jae Min Jung, Sonya Zhang 
  Abstract: This study investigates how individual users cultural values and cognitive styles impact their evaluation of e-commerce website usability, highlighting the significance of individual differences from diverse cultural backgrounds in usability assessments. By treating culture as individual differences variables within the same country, we employ Hofstedes cultural dimensions and Nisbetts cognitive styles to test six hypotheses on two global B2C fashion websites using the heuristic usability method from the Microsoft Usability Guidelines (MUG). Findings indicate that individualism, power distance, masculinity, and cognitive style significantly influence perceptions of the content, made-for-medium, and emotion attributes in MUG usability evaluations. The study emphasises the importance of personalisation in global e-commerce website design and cautions against using a country-specific cultural approach in usability testing with diverse users. We offer insights to improve e-commerce website design for a global audience by understanding how cultural values and cognitive styles influence users perceptions of website usability.
  Keywords: e-commerce usability; cultural values; cognitive styles; individual differences; heuristic evaluation; Microsoft usability guidelines; MUG; Hofstede’s cultural dimensions; Nisbett’s cognitive styles; perceived usability; cross-cultural usability; global e-commerce design; user personalisation; cultural customisation.
  
  
• Evaluation process of gripping comfort based on mechanical stimulation in finger soft tissue and macroscopic roughness perception during grasping an object  
  by Kazuki Hokari, Hironari Ono, Jonas A. Pramudita 
  Abstract: This study investigated the relationships among the groove dimensions of grasped objects, strain energy density in finger soft tissue, macroscopic roughness perception, and gripping comfort to understand the process of evaluating gripping comfort through mechanical stimulation and roughness perception via grasping experiments and simulations. The simulation results showed that the local strain energy density in the finger soft tissue increased with the groove width on the cylinders, whereas the effect of ridge width was relatively small. Additionally, the roughness perception increased with the groove width, whereas ridge width had a relatively small effect. These results suggest that the local strain energy density contributes to the perception of roughness. Besides, whether the relationship between roughness perception and gripping comfort exhibited a positive or negative correlation varied among participants, indicating that the factors contributing to better gripping comfort differed among individuals. These findings are valuable for designing products with improved gripping comfort.
  Keywords: macroscopic roughness; roughness perception; gripping comfort; grasping experiment; mechanical stimulation; strain energy density; finger soft tissue; finite element model.