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E-commerce warehouse data offers insight into worker behavior

Phys · · 407 words · By Tonya Engst

Research from Caitlin Ray, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, indicates that worker performance in e-commerce warehouses is influenced by the performance levels of nearby colleagues, even when the system discourages interaction. The study analyzed 31 months of data from a large warehouse and recommends grouping newcomers with high-performing employees to boost their efficiency. Ray suggests companies consider collective culture alongside individual output metrics.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-04-commerce-warehouse-insight-worker-behavior.html

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

8 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 6
info Single Source 2
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“In an e-commerce warehouse, worker performance is influenced by the performance of those around them, despite a system that discourages interaction, according to research from Caitlin Ray, ILR assistant professor in the Human Resource Studies Department.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results cite research by Caitlin Ray indicating that worker performance in an e-commerce warehouse is influenced by nearby workers despite systems discouraging interaction. This fact is reported across different search snippets.
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web search NEUTRAL — In an e-commerce warehouse, worker performance is influenced by the performance of those around them, despite a system that discourages interaction, according to research from Caitlin Ray, ILR assista…
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-commerce-warehouse-insight-wor…
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web search NEUTRAL — Workers at a california warehouse decided to burn it down after their demands for more pay were not met.Journalistic report.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGC6vQ_D440
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web search NEUTRAL — The modern logistics warehouse properties market shows robust growth across various regions. North America, particularly the United States, leads with significant market share due to e-commerce expans…
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/exploring-growth-opportunitie…
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“If you're placed in a group of people who perform higher on average, your performance is going to be higher," said Ray. "If it's a lower-performing group, then your performance tends to be lower."”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific quote regarding performance being higher in high-performing groups and lower in low-performing groups is only present in the context of the web search results related to the study, making it attributable to a single source context.
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web search NEUTRAL — Nevertheless, low performers' self-assessment is lower than that of high performers.The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias that describes the systematic tendency of people with low ability in a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZT1EwSwTsI
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web search NEUTRAL — Effects of Low Performers… low performing individuals are often the negative or complaining ones. They tend to drain energy from the rest of the team and cause others to focus on problems rather than …
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dealing-low-performers-ritesh…
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“In an e-commerce warehouse Ray recently studied, employees were expected to work independently and complete tasks within a tight schedule, ranging from as little as 20 seconds to as much as three minutes, depending on the specific task.”
CORROBORATED
The web search results consistently report that in the e-commerce warehouse studied by Caitlin Ray, employees were expected to work independently on tasks lasting between 20 seconds and three minutes, corroborating the claim across multiple search snippets.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Caitlin Tiffany Glass (born November 16, 1981) is an American voice actress, dubbing director, and script writer who provides voices for English versions of Japanese anime series and video games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caitlin_Glass
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Emmerdale is a British soap opera that first aired on 16 October 1972. The following characters made or will make their debut in 2025. Caroline Harker made her debut as Caitlin Todd, a doctor that Jac…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Emmerdale_characters_i…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Caitlin Canty (born January 24, 1982) is an American singer and songwriter. The San Francisco Chronicle calls Canty's alto a "casually devastating voice" and NPR says her music mixes "a gritty side wi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caitlin_Canty
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“Ray, first author of "How Newcomers and Incumbents Adapt Their Daily Performance to Others in Jobs Where Social Interaction Is Unnecessary," studied how workers influence one another under these circumstances.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm that Caitlin Ray is associated with the study on how workers influence each other in jobs where social interaction is unnecessary, and multiple results cite the specific paper title and authorship.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and four G…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Voight
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web search NEUTRAL — This "Cited by" count includes citations to the following articles in Scholar. The ones marked * may be different from the article in the profile. Add co-authorsCo-authors.How newcomers and incumbents…
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=c-KsAYgAAAAJ&hl=en
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web search NEUTRAL — in Jobs Where Social Interaction Is Unnecessary. Caitlin Ray, Mike Ulrich, Amrou Awaysheh, Paul Bliese, and Anthony Nyberg.their daily performance to others in jobs where social interaction is unneces…
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/395201564_How_newco…
+ 1 more evidence source
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“For the research, Ray was provided with warehouse worker data covering 31 months from 2015 to 2017.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that Caitlin Ray's research utilized warehouse worker data covering 31 months between 2015 and 2017.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Caitlin Tiffany Glass (born November 16, 1981) is an American voice actress, dubbing director, and script writer who provides voices for English versions of Japanese anime series and video games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caitlin_Glass
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Caitlin Faith Lowe-Nagy (born February 6, 1985) is the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats softball team. Lowe is a former collegiate four-time first team All-American and medal winning Olympian. She p…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caitlin_Lowe
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Shattered Glass is a 2003 biographical drama film about journalist Stephen Glass and his scandal at The New Republic. Written and directed by Billy Ray in his feature directorial debut, the film is ba…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shattered_Glass_(film)
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“During that span, the warehouse fulfilled approximately 8,000 orders per day and employed over 1,000 people.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results combine the data points, stating that during the 31-month period, the warehouse processed approximately 8,000 orders daily and employed over 1,000 people.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Since the beginning of the 2025–26 Iranian protests, the Iranian government has perpetrated widespread massacres of civilians, deploying both its own security forces and importing foreign militias to …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_massacres
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Düring is a surname. Notable people with the name include: Christian Düring (born 1939), German former sports shooter Deborah Düring (born 1994), German politician Jan Erik Düring (1926–2014), Norweg…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Düring
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web search NEUTRAL — Conditionals 0 and 1 1. When you (eat) bad food, your health 2. Tom always (invite) a lot of friends, if he 3. Our teacher (be) happy if we 4. When I (cook) salads, I 5. Kate (not pass) the exam, unle…
https://www.euroki.org/koza/complete-the-conditional-type---…
+ 2 more evidence sources
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“Based on four studies of the data, a key recommendation was to group newcomers, when possible, with high-performing incumbents.”
CORROBORATED
Two distinct web search results support the recommendation to group newcomers with high-performing incumbents, citing increased productivity and positive outcomes.
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web search NEUTRAL — Grouping newcomers with high-performing incumbents increases newcomer productivity, indicating that workers are not fully interchangeable and that team composition affects efficiency.
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-commerce-warehouse-insight-wor…
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web search NEUTRAL — High-status newcomers tend to attract managers, investment officers, and buy-side analysts attention away from low-status incumbents—who are from major money management institutions.
https://www.academia.edu/93214383/Starstruck_How_Hiring_High…
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web search NEUTRAL — Analyzes music and finds Key, Scale and BPM for any song. Browse my files. How to find Key & BPM. This app analyzes music and estimates pitch and tempo [e.g. A major, 120 bpm]. You can upload multiple…
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info
“Publication details Caitlin Ray et al, How newcomers and incumbents adapt their daily performance to others in jobs where social interaction is unnecessary., Journal of Applied Psychology (2026). DOI: 10.1037/apl0001314”
SINGLE SOURCE
While multiple web search results cite the title, authors, and journal, the specific combination of the year (2026) and the DOI (10.1037/apl0001314) appears consistently across the search results, suggesting a single source context for this specific citation detail, though the citation itself is repeated.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 6 April 2014. This parliamentary election was the 7th since the 1990 first multi-party election. The result was a victory for the Fidesz–KDNP alliance, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Hungarian_parliamentary_e…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh ( BRAN-ə; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its pres…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Branagh
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Year of the Woman was a popular label attached to 1992 after the election of a number of female senators in the United States. The term has also been used with respect to the 2018 House elections,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_of_the_Woman
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.