Working Paper #2008-015
Productivity effects of innovation, stress and social relations
Innovation is a source of increasing productivity, but it is also a
source of stress. Psychological research shows that moderate stress
increases the productivity of an actor, but above a certain level,
additional stress decreases productivity. Stress is reduced by coping
behaviour of the actor, and in addition it is bu_ered by social
relations. However, high levels of stress negatively a_ect social
relations, causing social erosion. In a formal model including
inter-agent dynamics, we show that the variables moderating stress
levels are of crucial importance for identifying the overall e_ects of
di_erent rates of innovation on productivity. The model shows among
other things that the existence and nature of relationships of people
determine the extent to which a certain rate of innovation e_ectively
results in increasing productivity. In addition, it shows the
possibility of multiple equilibria - under some parameter values both
high- and low-stress steady states exist; and the dynamics exhibit
hysteresis. At very high levels of stress, innovation can result in a
dissolution of social relations, and has a negative relationship with
the rate of economic growth.
- Keywords
-
- innovation
- work-related stress
- social relationships UNU-MERIT Working Papers ISSN 1871-9872
- JEL codes
-
- O4
- J28
- C61
Cite this as
APA 7th ed.Weehuizen, R., Sanditov, B., & Cowan, R. (2008). Productivity effects of innovation, stress and social relations (UNU-MERIT Working Paper No. 2008-015). UNU-MERIT. https://unu-merit.nl/publications/working-papers/abstract/?id=3038