The Hawthorne effect: A reconsideration of the methodological artifact.
Abstract
Reviews the literature on the Hawthorne effect (HE) which originated out of the studies at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company. This effect is generally defined as the problem in field experiments that Ss' knowledge that they are in an experiment modifies their behavior from what it would have been without the knowledge. An examination of the Hawthorne studies conducted 50 yrs ago does not reveal this “effect” probably because there were so many uncontrolled variables. HE is inconsistently described in contemporary psychology textbooks, and there is lack of agreement on how the effect is mediated. Controls for the HE in current field research (mostly in education) took several forms, each designed for different purposes. In 13 studies designed to produce HEs, only 4 using adult Ss were successful. It is suggested that most persons in any clearly identified situation define the context for their behavior and respond accordingly; the necessity to ascertain Ss' view of the experiment requires different procedures than those typically used to control for HEs in the past. It is concluded that better articulation of how to adapt postexperimental questioning procedures to a diversity of experimental settings is needed. (68 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)
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According to the Hawthorne effect, individuals alter their behaviors in response to being studied and usually refer to positive changes.
“According to the Hawthorne effect, individuals will alter their behaviors in response to being studied and usually refer to positive changes [42].”
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“Adair 1984.”
Scherr, R. E., Linnell, J. D., Dharmar, M., Beccarelli, L. M., Bergman, J. J., Briggs, M., Brian, K. M., Feenstra, G., Hillhouse, J. C., Keen, C. L., et al. (2017) · Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2016.12.007 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Schiavon, S., & Altomonte, S. (2014) · Building and Environment · doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2014.03.028 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
McCambridge, J., Kypri, K., & Elbourne, D. (2014) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2013.09.004 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Intentional Use of the Hawthorne Effect to Improve Oral Hygiene Compliance in Orthodontic Patients
Feil, P. H., Grauer, J. S., Gadbury‐Amyot, C. C., Kula, K., & McCunniff, M. D. (2002) · Journal of Dental Education · doi:10.1002/j.0022-0337.2002.66.10.tb03584.x · Cited by 142 · see citing works
“realization they are in a study and are being observed.(16) Hawthorne was a Western Electric Company plant where studies were conducted between”
BackgroundNanotechnology and Nanoscale Science: Educational challenges
Jones, M. G., Blonder, R., Gardner, G. E., Albe, V., Falvo, M. R., & Chevrier, J. (2013) · International Journal of Science Education · doi:10.1080/09500693.2013.771828 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
“Furthermore, research on these new instructional programs suggest that students have increased motivation to learn about nanotechnology after instruction, but the extent to which this new interest represents a Hawthorne effect (Adair, 1984) is not fully known.”
BackgroundCiarrochi, J., Atkins, P. W. B., Hayes, L. L., Sahdra, B. K., & Parker, P. D. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01561 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
“Weaker designs do not allow us to rule out the possibility that a positive education program is effective simply because of placebo effects or because it increases the amount of attention given to students (Adair, 1984).”
BackgroundModerating effects of information access on project management behavior, performance and perceptions
Bendoly, E., & Swink, M. L. (2006) · Journal of Operations Management · doi:10.1016/j.jom.2006.02.009 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
“Hawthorne checks (Adair, 1984) against extraneous perceptual effects of these treatments were conducted using supplemental items not viewed as relevant to this study but included in the Phase 4 items for this sole purpose.”
MethodMeyers, M. C., van Woerkom, M., de Reuver, R. S. M., Bakk, Z., & Oberski, D. L. (2015) · Journal of Counseling Psychology · doi:10.1037/cou0000050 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
“, their perception of being directed toward personal growth) and the adaption of their own behavior according to this interpretation (Adair, 1984).”
BackgroundTorbjørnsen, A., Jenum, A. K., Småstuen, M. C., Årsand, E., Holmen, H., Wahl, A. K., & Ribu, L. (2014) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.3535 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
“They may also have received special attention from their general practitioners because “their patients” were included in a lifestyle intervention with modern technology [45].”
Doctors’ emotional intelligence and the patient–doctor relationship
Weng, H., Chen, H., Chen, H., Lu, K., & Hung, S. (2008) · Medical Education · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2923.2008.03039.x · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Evaluating Instrument Quality in Science Education: Rasch‐based analyses of a Nature of Science test
Neumann, I., Neumann, K., & Nehm, R. H. (2010) · International Journal of Science Education · doi:10.1080/09500693.2010.511297 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
“Moreover, the suitability of the instrument to detect a change in students’ views should be investigated as one aspect of validity, which again, requires the consideration of instructional factors that may interfere with measurement (e.g., Adair, 1984; Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1992).”
BackgroundApplying ethnography to the study of context in healthcare quality and safety
Leslie, M., Paradis, E., Gropper, M. A., Reeves, S., & Kitto, S. C. (2013) · BMJ Quality & Safety · doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2013-002335 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
López‐de‐Uralde‐Villanueva, I., Muñoz‐García, D., Gil‐Martínez, A., Pardo-Montero, J., Muñoz-Plata, R., Angulo, S., Gómez-Martínez, M., & Touche, R. L. (2015) · Pain Medicine · doi:10.1111/pme.12882 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Fisher, A., Boyle, J. M., Paton, J. Y., Tomporowski, P., Watson, C., McColl, J. H., & Reilly, J. J. (2011) · BMC Pediatrics · doi:10.1186/1471-2431-11-97 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
“To control for any improvement in psychological variables by simply intervening [22] and to try to ensure that any differences between groups might be attributable to the difference in aerobically intense PE between the two groups, control and intervention groups were matched for intervention time.”
Burton, S. H., Tanner, K., Giraud-Carrier, C. G., West, J. H., & Barnes, M. (2012) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.2121 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
“In addition, by observing users as they interact naturally with one another and their environment, researchers can study true feelings and avoid the Hawthorne effect where the investigator’s presence can cause unintended influence [20].”
Shoshani, A., & Slone, M. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01866 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
“The positive effects may also be explained by a Hawthorne effect, which refers to the possibility the participants in the intervention group showed positive changes as a result of being treated differently and receiving more attention (Adair, 1984).”
BackgroundRIGOR IN BEHAVIORAL EXPERIMENTS: A BASIC PRIMER FOR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT RESEARCHERS
Bachrach, D. G., & Bendoly, E. (2011) · Journal of Supply Chain Management · doi:10.1111/j.1745-493x.2011.03230.x · Cited by 118 · see citing works
The Hawthorne effect in direct observation research with physicians and patients
Goodwin, M. A., Stange, K. C., Zyzanski, S. J., Crabtree, B. F., Borawski, E. A., & Flocke, S. A. (2017) · Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice · doi:10.1111/jep.12781 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
“Some prior research suggests that observation may not result in significant changes in behaviour.(8,15-18) A systematic review of 19 studies assessing a Hawthorne effect foundmixed results by study type.”
BackgroundResultShoshani, A., Guttmann-Steinmetz, S., & Kanat‐Maymon, Y. (2016) · Journal of School Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2016.05.003 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Au, J., Buschkuehl, M., Duncan, G. J., & Jaeggi, S. M. (2015) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-015-0967-4 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
“…intervention between test periods), they reported a non-significant ES of g = 0.09 (SE: 0.08) and argued that the effects of WM training in improving Gf are driven solely by placebo or Hawthorne effects (c.f., Adair, 1984), which are controlled for in studies with active but not passive controls.”
BackgroundInfluentialEffectiveness and cost effectiveness of counselling in primary care
Bower, P., Rowland, N. E., Clark, J. M., Heywood, P., Godfrey, C., & Hardy, R. (2002) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd001025 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Reduction of ventilator-associated pneumonia: active versus passive guideline implementation
Hawe, C. S., Ellis, K. S., Cairns, C. J. S., & Longmate, A. G. (2009) · Intensive Care Medicine · doi:10.1007/s00134-009-1461-0 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
“[39], although this is by definition only temporary.”
BackgroundPatel, J. N., Ahmed, K., Guru, K. A., Khan, F., Marsh, H. P., Khan, M. S., & Prokar Dasgupta, A. (2014) · International Journal of Surgery · doi:10.1016/j.ijsu.2014.10.031 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
“It explains that the behavior of participants in a study changes under the circumstances of that study, and that they are more likely to be compliant and vigilant simply due to the fact that they are being observed [31].”
BackgroundMedication reconciliation at admission and discharge: a time and motion study
Meguerditchian, A. N., Krotneva, S., Reidel, K. E., Huang, A. R., & Tamblyn, R. M. (2013) · BMC Health Services Research · doi:10.1186/1472-6963-13-485 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Ercümen, A., Naser, A. M., UNICOMB, L. E., Arnold, B. F., Colford, J. M., & Luby, S. P. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0121907 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
“In order to prevent potential differential Hawthorne effects between study arms, where Hawthorne effect is defined as subjects perceiving or reporting spurious health benefits as a consequence of “being watched and unusual attention being paid” [34,35], the control group was visited with the same frequency as the inte…”
Khalil, H. W., Quinn, L., Deursen, R. W. M. V., Dawes, H., Playle, R., Rosser, A., & Busse, M. E. (2013) · Clinical Rehabilitation · doi:10.1177/0269215512473762 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Suggestion, Cognition, and Behavior
Michael, R. B., Garry, M., & Kirsch, I. (2012) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721412446369 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
“But as research has shown (Adair, 1984; Wickström & Bendix, 2000), reports of these studies—often included in textbooks—are riddled with errors that dramatically limit the inferences that can be drawn from them: variables (such as music) are described as having been manipulated, but they never…”
BackgroundDeveloper Testing in the IDE: Patterns, Beliefs, and Behavior
Beller, M., Gousios, G., Panichella, A., Proksch, S., Amann, S., & Zaidman, A. (2017) · IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering · doi:10.1109/tse.2017.2776152 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
“The Hawthorne effect [89] poses a similar threat: participants of our studywould bemore prone to use, run, and edit”
BackgroundQuick, R. E., Venczel, L., González, O., Mintz, E. D., Highsmith, A. K., Espada, A., Damiani, E., Bean, N. H., Hannover, E. H. D., & Tauxe, R. V. (1996) · American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · doi:10.4269/ajtmh.1996.54.511 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
“If the number of colonies on a single filter was in the countable range (10-100).”
BackgroundChanges from ICD-10 to ICD-11 and future directionsin psychiatric classification
Gaebel, W., Stricker, J., & Kerst, A. (2020) · Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience · doi:10.31887/dcns.2020.22.1/wgaebel · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Calavia, M. B., Blanco, T., & Casas, R. (2020) · Thinking Skills and Creativity · doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100761 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Best practice interventions: Short‐term impact and long‐term outcomes
Done, A., Voss, C., & Rytter, N. G. M. (2010) · Journal of Operations Management · doi:10.1016/j.jom.2010.11.007 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Making sense of social research: How useful is the Hawthorne Effect?
Chiesa, M., & Hobbs, S. (2008) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.401 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Chua, P.-H., Jung, Y., Lwin, M. O., & Theng, Y.-L. (2013) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2013.04.037 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Kasper, J., Köpke, S., Mühlhauser, I., Nübling, M., & Heesen, C. (2008) · European Journal of Neurology · doi:10.1111/j.1468-1331.2008.02313.x · Cited by 98 · see citing works
“This phenomenon known as Hawthorne effect [21], might have caused an enhanced motivation for thorough evaluation of the decision by the method of measurement.”
BackgroundFull-spectrum fluorescent lighting: a review of its effects on physiology and health
McColl, S. L., & Veitch, J. A. (2001) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291701004251 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
The Concept of Workplace Performance and its Value to Managers
Vischer, J. C. (2007) · California Management Review · doi:10.2307/41166383 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
“These findings are reminiscent of the changes in task performance found in the 1940s in the famous Hawthorne studies of lighting in factories, and they lead to concerns that any environmental change improves team performance regardless of its actual effect on ITP.(15) More judiciously, several recent studies conclude…”
ResultInfluentialScorecard Diplomacy: Grading States to Influence their Reputation and Behavior
Kelley, J. G. (2017) · DukeSpace (Duke University) · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Adair, J. G., Sharpe, D., & Huynh, C. (1989) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/00346543059002215 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
“Such an artifact has been proposed as an alternative explanation for the Hawthorne effect (Adair, 1984; Schneiderman, 1977).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationThe Hawthorne Effect: a fresh examination
Diaper, G. (1990) · Educational Studies · doi:10.1080/0305569900160305 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Impact of observing hand hygiene in practice and research: a methodological reconsideration
Gould, D. J., Creedon, S. A., Jeanes, A., Drey, N., Chudleigh, J. H., & Moralejo, D. G. (2016) · Journal of Hospital Infection · doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2016.08.008 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
- Authors
- Adair, J. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Manitoba (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Adair, John G.
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Psychology
- Published
- 1984-05
- Volume
- 69
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 334-345
- ISSN
- 0021-9010 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1854
- OpenAlex
- W2078241739
- Cited by
- 1,095
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 63 · 2025: 88 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 57 · 2019: 50 · 2018: 47 · 2017: 40 · 2016: 66 · 2015: 65 · 2014: 58 · 2013: 52 · 2012: 54
- FWCI
- 2.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Psychology Research and Bibliometrics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › General Psychology › Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Keywords
- Hawthorne effect, methodological artifacts, field experiments, experimenter effects, Hawthorne studies, Western Electric Company, educational research
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