Abstract
This study examines how perceived physical office environment features affect occupants’ creativity through positive moods. Based on a sample of 181 occupants in open-plan offices, we found that perceived spatial organization features had a positive relationship with occupants’ self-assessed creativity, and this relationship is mediated by positive moods. Although perceived architectonic details of the physical work environment do not have a direct effect on occupants’ creativity, there is also a mediating effect through positive moods. A further examination revealed that activated positive mood significantly mediates the relationship between both physical work environment features and occupants’ creativity, whereas deactivated positive mood was not significant as a mediator. When occupants perceived the physical work environment to be supportive in providing various workspaces and is well decorated, it is most likely to enhance creativity.
Highlights
Nowadays, the changing nature of work and economy has largely impacted working conditions and job requirements (Duffy, 1997; Ree, 2002; McElroy & Morrow, 2010)
We first review past literature linking physical work environment with employee creativity, and we examine the mechanism through which the physical work environment can enhance employee creativity, and explore the possible influence of moods
In line with our expectations, positive moods were positively correlated with perceived physical work environment features and creativity, whereas negative moods were negatively correlated with perceived physical work environment features and creativity
Summary
The changing nature of work and economy has largely impacted working conditions and job requirements (Duffy, 1997; Ree, 2002; McElroy & Morrow, 2010). In the knowledge-based economy today, creativity is recognized as one of the most important abilities at work that contributes to firm competitiveness (Florida, 2002; Mumford & Licuanan, 2004; Shalley & Gilson, 2004; Zhang & Bartol, 2010). Creativity has been conceptualized as a variety of definitions, it is generally defined as the ability to produce novel (original and unique) and useful work, including generating ideas or solutions to new products, services and processes (Amabile, 1988; Runco & Jaeger, 2012; Sternberg & Lubart, 1996). Different factors contribute to a person’s creative potential, empirical studies have focused.
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