Sustained Success or Fading Spark? - Long-term Assessment of Participatory Order Assignments in a Warehouse Environment

Abstract

Order picking, a key warehouse process, is known to be costly, monotonous, and tightly regulated by a central planning system. Recent studies have explored a way to mitigate the negative impacts of order picking; they experimentally investigated the feasibility and effects of a participatory order assignment (POA) system, which allows workers to choose their next order and break the monotony rather than being confronted with top-down systemic assignments. Thus far, studies have mainly looked at the effects on productivity and psychosocial and physical well-being shortly after such an autonomy-increasing system redesign, yet little is known about the longevity of these effects. The existing literature emphasises the need for evaluations that go beyond short-term findings to assess effects over a sustained period. The degree to which the observed effects persist over time significantly impacts potential adoption by practitioners. By conducting a unique field experiment in a real-world warehouse, this paper assesses the effects of a POA system over a period of 6 months and finds that the initially observed effects persist over time. We enhance the existing body of literature by providing evidence that POA systems are not only effective, but they also yield long-lasting effects. Copyright (c) 2025 The Authors.