Business Potential of Biohacking at Work Studying the Degree to Which Employees Would Adopt Biohacking Within Their Working Context
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Business Potential of Biohacking at Work Studying the Degree to which Employees would Adopt Biohacking within their Working Context Margaux Venet Bachelor’s thesis May 2020 School of Business Degree Programme in Business Administration Description Author Type of publication Date Venet, Margaux Bachelor’s thesis May 2020 Language of publication: English Number of pages Permission for web 89 publication: x Title of publication Business potential of Biohacking at work Studying the degree to which employees would adopt Biohacking within their working context Degree programme Business Administration Supervisor(s) Pallot, Marc and Krawczyk, Piotr Assigned by JAMK University of Applied Sciences Abstract In our modern economy, workers are overwhelmed by their high-demanding job; consequently, their well-being is suffering, and their performance is decreasing. No holistic approach has been developed to answer these issues; the ones existing target only one or few domains. This paper studied the business potential of biohacking - recent movement that aims to optimize the body, mind, and environment - by researching the potential degree of people’s adoption of this concept and its practices at work. A holistic view of biohacking at work has been developed, laying the foundation for the adoption research framework of this study. The author tested the research framework by conducting a survey in which both quantitative and qualitative questions were asked. A mixed-method methodology has been used to collect relevant data. The participants were globally positive about adopting biohacking practices at work. On the one side, respondents are curious to try, enthusiasts about being more efficient and productive in their tasks but also about increasing their well-being at work. On the other side, some people do not think all practices can be implemented at work. They do not feel ready yet due to a lack of familiarity with the concept, judged as not suitable for all. Results have shown a correlation between the biohacking experience at work and the causal effect. It appears that the more satisfying the biohacking at work experience is, the higher the degree of people’s adoption will be. Future research could use a bigger and more representative sample to allow for inferential statistical analysis to test the validity and reliability of the biohacking at work adoption model. Keywo rds/tags (subjects) biohacking practices, biohacking at work, employees, well-being, performance, adoption model, survey, mixed-method research Miscellaneous (Confidential information) 1 Contents 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Background, Motivation and Purpose ...................................................... 4 1.2 Research Objectives, Questions and Approach......................................... 4 1.3 Thesis Structure ....................................................................................... 5 2 Literature Review .............................................................................................. 6 2.1 Existing Theories and Previous work ........................................................ 6 2.2 Biohacking ............................................................................................... 8 2.2.1 Origin of the movement ...................................................................... 8 2.2.2 Between technology and biology: the aspirations of a biohacker ...... 12 2.2.3 A softer version of biohacking ........................................................... 15 2.2.4 Benefits and drawbacks of implementing biohacking ........................ 19 2.2.5 Business potential of biohacking ....................................................... 21 2.3 Workplace ............................................................................................. 24 2.3.1 Workplace issues ............................................................................... 24 2.3.2 Strategies focusing on employees’ well-being and/or performance ... 29 2.3.3 The pursuit of employees’ well-being ................................................ 40 2.4 Biohacking at work ................................................................................. 40 2.5 Adoption theories and models ............................................................... 43 2.6 Identified Gaps....................................................................................... 47 2.7 Research Framework ............................................................................. 48 3 Methodology ................................................................................................... 52 3.1 Research Context ................................................................................... 52 3.2 Research Approach ................................................................................ 54 3.3 Research Design ..................................................................................... 54 3.4 Data Collection ...................................................................................... 56 2 4 Results ............................................................................................................. 59 4.1 Respondents’ profile .............................................................................. 59 4.2 Biohacking practices and the holistic view ............................................. 59 4.3 Perceived benefits and drawbacks of biohacking ................................... 61 4.4 Factors impacting employee’s adoption of biohacking at work .............. 63 4.5 Degree of people’s adoption about applying biohacking at work ........... 65 5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 66 6 Discussion ........................................................................................................ 68 6.1 Limitations, Reliability, Validity .............................................................. 68 6.2 Answers to Research questions .............................................................. 69 6.3 Future Research ..................................................................................... 71 References ............................................................................................................... 72 Appendices .............................................................................................................. 88 Appendix 1. Questions of the Survey (N=31)................................................. 88 Appendix 2. Collected data from question 9 (survey).................................... 89 Figures Figure 1. ‘Biohacking’ amount of publications found on Google Scholar (2008-2019)..6 Figure 2. ‘Biohacking at work’, ‘biohacking factors’, and ‘biohacking effects’ amount of publication found on Google Scholar (2015-2019).................................................. 7 Figure 3. Map locating 85 DIY laboratories around the world.....................................10 Figure 4. Mind map found on the blog of Dave Asprey............................................... 19 Figure 5. Research Model of the ergonomic workplace design………………………………..30 Figure 6. Cognitive enhancement interventions different in their mode of actions...33 Figure 7. Csíkszentmihályi ‘s Flow Model…………………………………………………………………37 Figure 8. Covey’s time management matrix… ........................................................... 38 3 Figure 9. Initial modelling of drivers of acceptance or resistance to insideable technology...................................................................................................................42 Figure 10. The first modified version of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)..........43 Figure 11. Proposed theoretical model: CATS…...........................................................45 Figure 12. UX-Adoption Model…………………….…...........................................................46 Figure 13. Theoretical drivers of the intention towards practicing body hacking .....46 Figure 14. A holistic view of Biohacking at work…………….….………………………………......50 Figure 15. Biohacking at work UX Model & Causal Effect on Adoption………………......51 Figure 16. Biohacking at work experience with UX properties…..………………………......64 Figure 17. Causal effect: degree of adoption………………..……………………………………......65 Tables Table 1. Biohacking Milestones .................................................................................. 8 Table 2. Biohacking concerns and identified solutions…………………………………………….10 Table 3. Common characteristics among biohackers ................................................ 14 Table 4. Benefits and drawbacks of self-experimentation ........................................ 20 Table 5. Businesses around biohacking..................................................................... 22 Table 6. Cognitive enhancement strategies and implementation at work ................ 34 Table 7. Strategies for a common goal: biohacking at work ...................................... 48 Table 8. Description of Biohacking UX properties…………………………………………………….51 Table 9. Perceived benefits and drawbacks of biohacking's topics compared to previous work………………………………………………………………………………………………………….61 Table 10. Perceived benefits and drawbacks of biohacking compared to previous work………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………….62 4 1 Introduction 1.1 Background, Motivation and Purpose The author discovered randomly biohacking a