28A. The Impact of Hunger on Productivity

Lead Presenter(s)

Nicole Carvagno

Abstract or Description

Food insecurity has been recognized as a potential issue for almost a century. Research on this topic has spanned from physical and mental health consequences to the effect of food insecurity on performance and student outcomes. However, there is a lack of research in identifying individually affected aspects of performance in order to find potential causes of the previously identified performance issues. By analyzing productivity through the lenses of accuracy and time, this study aims to begin pinpointing actual performance concerns during times of hunger as they may appear in the workplace as well as compiling participants’ self-perceived changes from hunger. Overall, while accuracy did not return significant results, the impact of hunger has a statistically significant effect on the time needed to complete a task. Additionally, respondents overwhelmingly reported negative perceptions of the effects of hunger on themselves, with important themes of lack of concentration, physical effects, altered moods and personal interactions, delayed or abandoned work, and negative performance quality appearing. Based on these findings, further research into this field may yield important information about graduating differences that hunger may have in individuals throughout the day. With a growing population of food insecure and hungry individuals, research into this field and mitigation strategies may be important for businesses’ growth in the future.

Mentor

Dr. David Gras