A Preliminary Study in Rationalizing the Need for the Goldilocks Principle in Manufacturing SMEs

Abstract

The Goldilocks principle has been widely used in the medical science and psychology fields. However, there appear to be many areas where this principle can be explored in social science research. The main objective of this study is to rationalize the need for the Goldilocks principle by observing the effect of fatigue and stress on human error in manufacturing SMEs. A total of 190 questionnaires were collected and analyzed in SmartPLS version 3. It was found that the alternative hypotheses were supported with p-values below 0.05. The authors suggested that manufacturing companies should set a work record of the task completion time and consider the average time as grace duration in performing the task. An organization is advised to refrain from giving extra time or too little time in completing a task. The timeframe should be based on the task complexity or task familiarity of the overall organization. This study benefits the manufacturing companies as it can serve as a guideline on HR policies and working hours.