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Kim, Holtz, and Vogel link clothing design-related choices to behavior at work; it is likely that their findings can be applied more broadly. The investigators report that “the results of a 10-day field study of employees from four organizations generally supported our predictions, showing that daily clothing aesthetics and uniqueness had effects on state self-esteem and downstream behavioral consequences.”  The researchers determined that when employees perceive that they are dressed well their task and social performance are better.

Joseph Kim, Brian Holtz, and Ryan Vogel.  “Wearing Your Worth at Work:  The Consequences of Employees’ Daily Clothing Choices.”  Academy of Management Journal, in press, https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2021.1358

Huang, Song, and Yang studied responses to glossy and matte finishes. They report that “glossy (vs. matte) finishes increase consumers' perceived effectiveness of a problem-avoiding product while the reverse is true for a problem-approaching product. . . . wedemonstrate that glossy [matte] finishes lead consumers to find the description of a product’s problem-avoiding[problem-approaching] function more trustworthy and, thus, the product to be more effective. . . . we suggestmarketers use glossy finishes for problem-avoiding products and matte finishes for problem-approaching products.”  An important clarification: “problem-solving products could either approach problem-causing stimuli and directly assuage the undesirable source of the problem (i.e., problem-approaching) oravoid problem-causing stimuli and drive away from the undesirable source of the problem (i.e., problem-avoiding). For examples, antibacterial soap can be either germ-fighting or germ-shielding, and meal replacement shakes can either break down calories or keep calories away.” 

Yunhui Huang, Wenjing Song, and Lu Yang.  2023. “Avoiding Through Glossiness and Approaching Through Matte: The Effect of Visual Finish on Perceived Product Effectiveness.”  Psychology and Marketing, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 262-273, https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21764

Adikesavan and Ramasubramanian studied the implications of hotdesking at universities.  They determined that “University faculty, researchers and graduate students are increasingly working out of hotdesks, nonterritorial workspaces available on a ‘first come first served’ basis and cleared of all work and personal possessions at the end of every work session. . . . participants [doctoral students] work early or late to secure suitable hotdesks, perform important tasks in locations other than the study site, incur co-working space and home office costs, etc. to cope with the themes of uncertainty, lack of control and lack of workspace continuity associated with hotdesking. Workspace reservation systems, storage lockers and workspaces for diverse tasks can improve the on-campus hotdesking experience. Off-campus support such as financial support for setting up and maintaining a home office, subscription to co-working spaces, etc. can facilitate productivity and foster a sense of connection in hotdesk users.”

Manju Adikesavan and Laxmi Ramasubramanian.  “Facilitating Hotdesking in a Hybrid Campus Environment:  Lessons from the Hotdesking Experiences of Doctoral Students in a US Public University.”  Journal of Corporate Real Estate, in press, https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRE-12-2021-0047

Hopland and Kvamsdal link environmental conditions in public buildings with citizens’ satisfaction with the services provided by the people who work in those buildings.  The team found that “Although Norway is an affluent country, there is widespread and long-lasting worry related to the condition of public purpose buildings. The purpose of this paper is to study how the condition of local public purpose buildings affect citizen satisfaction with local public services in Norwegian local governments. . . .  This paper finds a significantly positive relationship between building conditions and overall satisfaction with local public services, kindergartens and schools. This paper finds no such relationship between building conditions and satisfaction with nursing homes. . . . results indicate how the state of public facilities should be considered a part of the production function for public services.”

Arnt Hopland and Sturla Kvamsdal.  “Building Conditions and Citizen Satisfaction with Local Public Services.”  Facilities, in press, https://doi.org/10.1108/F-03-2022-0040

Leon’s work has ramifications for the design of spaces where UV radiation might be present.  He reports that “Temperature may be a proxy for UV radiation in the heat-aggression association. . . . Heat is associated with human aggression in field research, assumedly by affecting emotions, but it is not in laboratory experiments. Since this may be so because temperature functions as a proxy for UV radiation in field settings, not in the laboratory, this research tested, across 126 countries, whether temperature loses its predictive capacity when the electromagnetic variable is controlled. Temperature presented null statistical effects when UV radiation was controlled. . . . Future studies must address UV radiation's effects across routine activity patterns.”

Federico Leon.  “Electromagnetic and Climatic Foundations of Human Aggression.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.101953

Loodin and Thufvesson studied the responses of urban development professionals to various architectural styles. They found that “Rational design based on aesthetic principles from the 1930s dominates contemporary architecture and property development, contributing to a homogenous urban landscape. The aim of this paper is to examine how professionals involved in city centre development value different architectural styles. . . . a sample of . . . city centre managers . . . indicates that city centre managers view classical architecture in terms of being better for city centres than modernist.”

Henrik Loodin and Ola Thufvesson.  2022. “Which Architectural Style Makes an Attractive Street Scape?  Aesthetic Preferences Among City Centre Managers.”  Journal of Urban Design, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 25-43, https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2022.2072716

Ayoko and teammates reviewed how office noise influences employee mood (affect), which is particularly important because more positive moods enhance cognitive performance, getting along with other people, wellbeing, and health.  The research team reports that data collected in an open office showed that higher levels of perceived office noise were linked to more negative moods, and those more negative moods could in turn be tied to greater employee withdrawal and task conflict as well as to people trying to mark their physical territories: “Specifically, we found that, as perceived open-plan office noise increases, the relative experience of negative affect also increases. These findings . . . suggest that adoption of open-plan offices may indeed hinder productivity, especially if office noise (and the resulting employee perceptions of noise) is not controlled. . . . managers need to think about how to create privacy in an open plan office to maintain individual spaces and block out distractions. . . . Managers may need to provide employees with offices that allow a fit between job types and workspaces such that employees involved in complex work requiring high concentration are afforded appropriate levels of privacy.”

Oluremi Ayoko, Neal Ashkanasy, Yiqiong Li, Alana Dorris, and Karen Jehn.  2023. “An Experience Sampling Study of Employees’ Reactions to Noise in the Open-Plan Office.”  Journal of Business Research, vol. 155, Part B, 113445, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113445

Lee and colleagues studied satisfaction with speech privacy in workplaces via a survey. They share that “workers should be allowed to choose a workspace where they can focus on their job by creating a suitable space to concentrate. While it is important to create separate spaces for different purposes, it is essential to consider the provision of an isolated space by modifying workstations, which represent the smallest domain for workers from the perspective of spatial design, or by adjusting partition heights. Taking such actions could improve workers’ satisfaction with speech privacy in open-plan offices, which are constantly changing.”

Songmi Lee, Jeonghun Kim, Sohong Kim, Hansol Song, and Jongkwan Ryu.  2023. “An Online Survey on Self-Reported Workplace Design and Personal Factors Concerning Speech Privacy Satisfaction in Open-Plan Office Environment.”  Applied Acoustics, vol. 202, 109179, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2022.109179

Mustafa and Ali reviewed published studies to learn how workplace design can encourage people to use stairs instead of elevators.  They report that “safety, motivations, appeal and comfort, and legibility were the most common features in the studies, followed by connectivity, building codes, and elevator programming. The good quality of mentioned features positively affects stair use level and vice versa. . . . Safety of stairs includes 3 categories; Maintenance, Natural surveillance, stair dimensional, and provision of the railing. Motivational techniques followed safety by including the point of decision prompts artwork, music, step numbering, cardio indicator, and current location map. . . . comfort and appeal [are also] design interventions for promoting stair use.”  Getting people to take the stairs is important because “Stair use is of great importance in increasing physical activity and improving occupational health in the workplace.”

Faris Mustafa and Janan Ali.  2023. “Active Design: Architectural Interventions for Improving Occupational Health Through Reducing Sedentary Behavior – A Systematic Review.”  American Journal of Health Promotion, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 93-102, DOI: 10.1177/08901171221111108

For her dissertation, Harrington studied how starting to work in an activity-based workplace (ABW) influences how people think and behave. She determined “that participants frequently used workspaces in ways which were not assigned by the original design intention, appropriating them in accordance with their preferences and needs. Daily work activities were dynamic and predominantly aligned with a more informal way of working. Motivation to collaborate was perceived as a fundamental component of their job role and self determined, and not purely shaped through the provision of collaborative spaces.”

Jacqueline Harrington. 2022. “An Activity Based Workspace Project:  A Study to Explore How Actual User Behaviour Reflects Original Design Implications.” Doctoral dissertation, University of Westminster, https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.866100