Workstation characteristics and environmental satisfaction in open-plan offices: COPE field findings

From National Research Council Canada

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Author	Search for: Veitch, J. A.¹; Search for: Charles, K. E.¹; Search for: Newsham, G. R.¹; Search for: Marquardt, C. J. G.¹; Search for: Geerts, J.¹
Affiliation	National Research Council of Canada. NRC Institute for Research in Construction
Format	Text, Article
Conference	65th Annual Conference of the Canadian Psychological Association: 10 June 2004, St. John's, NL
Subject	satisfaction; workstation; partition; area; window; open-plan offices; cubicles; Open-plan offices [cubicles]; Lighting; Office acoustics
Abstract	Open-plan offices are notorious for their unpopularity with occupants, but remain popular with organizations because of their flexibility and apparent cost-effectiveness. As part of NRC's Cost-effective Open-Plan Environments project, a field study of 779 workstations in 9 buildings was conducted to examine the relationships between measured physical conditions and occupant satisfaction with those conditions. (Two presentations at CPA 2002 reported on a subset of these data.). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlled for age, job type, and gender first; then examined the effects of workstation characteristics on five aspects of satisfaction: satisfaction with privacy and acoustics; satisfaction with lighting; satisfaction with ventilation; overall environmental satisfaction, and job satisfaction. As predicted, increasing workstation size improved satisfaction with privacy. Having access to a window strongly improved satisfaction with lighting. Lower partition heights were associated with higher overall environmental satisfaction and higher job satisfaction. This finding is contrary to previous research and common sense, particularly with respect to privacy; however, it might reflect the desire for better daylight penetration, which lower partitions afford, and the perception that lower partitions improve ventilation.
Publication date	2004-06-10
In	65th Annual Conference of the Canadian Psychological Association [Proceedings] (10 June 2004): 1–4.
Language	English
Peer reviewed	Yes
NRC number	NRCC 47629 NRC-IRC-16713
NPARC number	20377855
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Record identifier	7ed3ef1e-92c3-4807-b7a9-46ae5e84b2a9
Record created	2012-07-24
Record modified	2020-04-17

Date modified:: 2024-07-07