Cognitive load dissonance and personality factors: an empirical analysis in organizational settings

Previous research that aimed at characterizing the importance of workers’ personological traits in coping with stress in organizational settings is often biased by the potential inconsistency (i.e., dissonance) between subjective perception and objective experience of workload. This study explored the relationship between the subjective, self-reported and objective physiological measures of cognitive load, and the possible confounding role of personality traits on a representative population (call center operators) in ecological settings (daily working routines consisting in inbound and outbound calls). With this aim, the personality traits of 30 call center operators were preliminarily characterized using the Ten Item Personality Inventory. Then, objective heart rate variability and electrodermal activity were measured during their inbound and outbound calls. Finally, a subjective self-evaluation of the experienced cognitive load was acquired. No significant correlations were found between subjective and objective measures of cognitive load except when controlling for personality traits. In particular, a negative correlation was found between the subjective perception of cognitive load and the psychophysiological indices of the parasympathetic tone. Specifically, the personality factors of Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and Emotional Stability have a significant influence on the subjective perception of cognitive load, without predicting the objective psychophysiological expression. Our study emphasizes the importance of studying the dissonance between subjectively-perceived feelings and their objective physiological instantiation, along with the influence of personality factors, in organizational settings.