Sleeping habits and job performance, a study in agrotechnology companies in Colombia

Abstract

Agrotechnology in Colombia promises to be the solution to the productivity problems of the agricultural sector, one of the main contributors to the country's economy. New companies are joining the market with employees who fulfill completely different roles and work different shifts. The objective of this research was to study their job performance through two factors, self-perception of productivity and job satisfaction, and to understand how these are related to their respective sleep habits, job and sociodemographic characteristics. A survey composed of validated instruments (Overall Job Satisfaction, Self-perception of productivity, Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index, Insomnia Severity Index, Sleep Hygiene Index and Munich Chronotype Questionnaire) was applied to 105 employees of both sexes from different companies in the sector. Using Welch's ANOVA, it was found that job performance factors are different for each type of job and shift. It was also found a tendency for worse job satisfaction to reported poor sleep quality (F = 3.456; p-value = 0.053). Through Spearman’s correlation, a negative correlation was found between sleep duration on free days and selfperceived productivity (rho=-0.192, p=0.050). Also, using a multiple linear regression, it was found that job satisfaction is positively affected by the perception of productivity, employee’s type of shift and their sleep quality, while it decreases with higher age and sleep loss. This concludes the need to apply differentiated strategies in the companies for these employees. In this way, recommendations are made focusing on their sleep-wake behavior seeking to promote the well-being of employees and, therefore, to improve performance in the companies of this important sector to the Colombian economy.

Date of Award	30 Oct 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Cátia Reis (Supervisor)