The relationship between office type and job satisfaction: Testing a multiple mediation model through ease of interaction and well-being

Abstract

The relationship between office type and job satisfaction: Testing a multiple mediation model through ease of interaction and well-being by Otterbring T, Pareigis J, Wästlund E, Makrygiannis A, Lindström A Employees who work in open-plan offices reported lower levels of job satisfaction, subjective well-being, and ease of interaction with co-workers than employees who work in cellular or shared-room offices. Therefore, decision-makers should consider the impact of open office environment on employees rather than focusing solely on cost-effective office layout, flexibility, and productivity. Short communication Scand J Work Environ Health. 2018;44(3):330-334. doi:10.5271/sjweh.3707 The relationship between office type and job satisfaction: Testing a multiple mediation model through ease of interaction and well-being Methods A brief survey including measures of office type, ease of interaction with coworkers, subjective wellbeing, and job satisfaction was sent electronically to 1500 Swedish real-estate agents, 271 of whom returned usable surveys. The data were analyzed using a regression-based serial multiple mediation model (PROCESS Model 6), which tested whether the relationship between office type and job satisfaction would be mediated by ease of interaction and, in turn, subjective well-being. AffiliationResults A negative relationship was found between the number of coworkers sharing an office and employees' job satisfaction. This association was serially mediated by ease of interaction with coworkers and subjective well-being, with employees working in small and medium-sized open-plan offices reporting lower levels of both these aspects than employees who work in either cellular or shared-room offices.Conclusions Open-plan offices may have short-term financial benefits, but these benefits may be lower than the costs associated with decreased job satisfaction and well-being. Therefore, decision-makers should consider the impact of office type on employees rather than focusing solely on cost-effective office layout, flexibility, and productivity.

Does the Number of Occupants in an Office Influence Individual Perceptions of Comfort and Productivity?—New Evidence from 5000 Office Workers

“…Objective 2 Regarding Objective 2, our study showed that occupants who shared an office with fewer people (Solo and Duo offices) felt that they were healthier, more productive and overall more comfortable in their offices than those in open-plan offices (5-8 and 8Plus offices). These results were in line with some recent studies on open-plan office spaces [8,39,40]. Bernstein and Turban [8] noted that face-to-face interaction patterns decreased by 70% when occupants were moved from cellular offices to open-plan offices.…”

“…The authors maintained that open-plan architecture appeared to trigger a natural human response to socially withdraw from officemates and interact instead over email and instant messaging. Otterbring et al, [40] found a negative relationship between open-plan offices and occupants' wellbeing and satisfaction while Richardson et al, [39] observed that open-plan offices were not beneficial to occupants' health.…”

Sustainable Workplace: The Moderating Role of Office Design on the Relationship between Psychological Empowerment and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour in Uzbekistan

“…The traditional view of research of the open-plan design held that this type of design would facilitate more interaction and collaboration between employees, thereby contributing to increased productivity and performance [6][7][8]. However, a recent trend of research has started associating open-plan office design with negative outcomes such as increased sick leave; higher levels of stress, distraction and disturbance; as well as reduced job satisfaction and performance [9][10][11][12][13]. The underlying argument among most of these studies has been the effects of noise and distraction.…”

Advancing mediation analysis in occupational health research

“…When a mediator is a modifiable risk factor, this opens up new opportunities for interventions to block (part) of the exposure's effect on the outcome. Recent examples in Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment Health have addressed the mediating effect of wellbeing on the association between type of office and job satisfaction (1) and examined whether workplace social capital contributes to the association between organizational changes and employee exit from work (2).…”