How can I find statistics regarding the effect of background music in a manufacturing environment?

[looking for answers]

[stanbyme]

Are you sure someone else has made this study? In all the manufacturing environments I have been, both in the United States, Asia and EMEA, manufacturing companies typically do not play background music. In some factories, employees are allowed to use personal stereo systems like MP3 players, FM recievers or CD players.

Even if some company has done the research, they have no reason to share it with you or to put it out for public use. You may need to do the research yourself, i.e. conduct the experiment out of your own expense.

Good luck!

[calmsquirrel963]

I am a librarian, so I took a look in some psychology research databases and found these articles that deal with studies on the effect of music in the workplace (some articles are dedicated to the effects of music in work environments, and some only have portions about music in the workplace). Go to your local library for help locating copies to read.

Here they are:

Blair, M. E., & Shimp, T. A. (1992). Consequences of an unpleasant experience with music: A second-order negative conditioning perspective. Journal of Advertising, 21, 35-43.

Bradley, D. (1981). Music and social science: A survey. Media, Culture and Society, 3, 205-218.

Brentar, J. E., Neuendorf, K. A., & Armstrong, G. B. (1994). Exposure effects and affective responses to music. Communication Monographs, 61, 161-181.

Deihl, E. R., Schneider, M. J., & Petress, K. (1983). Dimensions of music preference: A factor analytic study. Popular Music and Society, 9(3), 41-49.

Dixon, R. D. (1980). Suggested scales for the measurement of musical involvement and genre tastes. Popular Music and Society, 7, 223-244.

Dollinger, S. J. (1993). Research note: Personality and music preference: Extraversion and excitement seeking or openness to experience? Psychology of Music, 21, 73-77.

Gromko, J. E. (1993). Perceptual differences between expert and novice music listeners: A multidimensional scaling analysis. Psychology Of Music, 21, 34-47.

Hargreaves, D. J. (1982). Preference and prejudice in music: A psychological approach. Popular Music and Society, 8, 14-18.

Holbrook, M. R., & Schindler, R. M. (1989). Some exploratory findings on the development of musical tastes. Journal of Consumer Research, 16, 119-124.

Jones, S. C., & Schumacher, T. G. (1992). Muzak: On functional music and power. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 9, 156-169.

Kellaris, J. J., & Rice, R. C. (1993). The influence of tempo, loudness and gender of listener on responses to music. Psychology and Marketing, 10, 15-30.

Lewis, G. H. (1991). Who do you love? The dimensions of musical taste. In James Lull (Ed.), Popular music and communication (pp. 134-151). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Lull, J. (1985). On the communicative properties of music. Communication Research, 12, 363-372.

Rhodes, L. A., David, D. C., & Combs, A. L. (1988). Absorption and enjoyment of music. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 66, 737-738.

Russell, P. A. (1987). Effects of repetition on the familiarity and likability of popular music recordings. Psychology of Music, 15, 33-43.

Smith, T. W. (1994). Generational differences in musical preferences. Popular Music and Society, 18(2), 43-60.

Wanamaker, C. E., & Reznikoff, M. (1989). Effects of aggressive and non-aggressive rock songs on projective and structured tests. Journal of Psychology, 123, 561-570.

Wells, A., & Hakanen, E. A. (1991). The emotional use of popular music by adolescents. Journalism Quarterly, 68, 445-454.