The Albo Project: Virtual Working Environments for the Detection of Organizational Well-Being

Substantial evidence from social and cognitive psychology suggests that lot of behaviours are driven by processes operating outside of awareness. Many implicit or indirect measures to capture such processes have been proposed. Thus, the literature of risk perception shows the role of the heuristic thinking in the individual evaluation of the risky situations. The aim of the ALBO Project is verify, both theoretically and experimentally, if the traditional instruments for assessing work-related stress (questionnaires, check-lists and interviews) are inappropriate to detect the individual perception of psycho-social risk factors in work environments. It is also claimed that virtual reality simulations permits a better assessment of the potential factors of stress in workplaces. Game simulations based on the techniques of virtual reality are potent tools to provide a substantial improvement in the quality and quantity of information and awareness on the safety and psycho-social risks existing inside organizations. Also, the virtual reality exposure (virtual movies) can facilitate the objectivity in judgment of audience. The final product called Adventure Game, was submitted in three pilot firms to test it. The result of the first step of the project is the demo version including scenarios of virtual work environments. The final product will be used for assessing job stress and for designing training experiences in workplaces on online platforms.