Understanding Organizational Behavior with Wearable Sensing Technology

36 Pages Posted: 7 Sep 2008

See all articles by Benjamin N. Waber

Benjamin N. Waber

MIT - Media Laboratory

Daniel Olguin Olguin

MIT - Media Laboratory

Taemie Kim

MIT - Media Laboratory

Alex Pentland

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Date Written: August 12, 2008

Abstract

We describe how recent advances in wearable sensing technology allow for unprecedented accuracy in studies of human behavior, particularly organizational behavior. We use one such platform, the Sociometric badge, to understand organizational behavior in two studies. In the first, we describe the collection of data over a period of one month in a German bank's marketing division. We found that physical proximity had a high negative correlation with e-mail activity, and by combining behavioral data and electronic communication data we were able to very accurately predict self-reports of personal and group interaction satisfaction and performance. Next we describe an experiment at a data server configuration firm, and we discovered behavioral variables that had extremely high correlations with objective productivity measures. In both studies the fine-grained behavioral variables measured by the Sociometric badge played a critical role in predicting outcomes.

Keywords: sensors, organizational behavior, consistency, social networks, accelerometer, microphone

JEL Classification: C80, M12, D23

Suggested Citation

Waber, Benjamin N. and Olguin Olguin, Daniel and Kim, Taemie and Pentland, Alex, Understanding Organizational Behavior with Wearable Sensing Technology (August 12, 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1263992 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1263992

Benjamin N. Waber (Contact Author)

MIT - Media Laboratory ( email )

20 Ames St.
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
United States
617-253-4662 (Phone)
617-253-6285 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.media.mit.edu/~bwaber

Daniel Olguin Olguin

MIT - Media Laboratory ( email )

20 Ames St.
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
United States

Taemie Kim

MIT - Media Laboratory ( email )

20 Ames St.
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
United States

Alex Pentland

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ( email )

77 Massachusetts Avenue
50 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
United States

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