Hoendervanger and colleagues continue to study the experience of working in activity-based offices. They determined via field and lab studies that “Activity-based work environments are widely adopted; however, research shows mixed findings regarding privacy issues, satisfaction with the work environment, and task performance. The results from both studies confirm that perceived [person-environment] fit is a function of activity, work setting and personal need for privacy, with indirect effects on satisfaction with the work environment…and task performance. Across both studies, a misfit was perceived particularly among workers high in personal need for privacy when performing high-complexity tasks in an open office work setting. Hence, we recommend that organizations facilitate and stimulate their workers to create better fits between activities, work settings, and personal characteristics.”
Jan Hoendervanger, Nico van Yperen, Mark Mobach, and Casper Albers. “Perceived Fit in Activity-Based Work Environments and Its Impact on Satisfaction and Performance.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.101339
Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.