Abstract
Purpose Employees’ satisfaction and productivity is one of the main interests of employers. Psychological comfort can cause dissatisfaction with their work. Thus, it is important to understand what factors contribute to employees’ satisfaction in workplaces. The purpose of this paper is to identify the weight of contribution of each design parameter on increasing psychological satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The study included 579 employees in five offices in The Netherlands through an online survey. The typologies of offices vary in terms of office layouts, orientations and façade. Additionally, a parameter of desk location was included as this factor may be associated with user satisfaction. Kruskal–Wallis H test, categorical regression, and logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the impact of these design parameters on psychological user satisfaction. Findings The results revealed the impact of design parameters on the psychological satisfaction. The parameters of office layouts and desk locations were the significant predictor factors for the probability of satisfaction variables (e.g. privacy, concentration, communication, social contact and territoriality). The parameters for optimal satisfaction were found in cellular office, north-west oriented workstation and 4 m away from a window. Originality/value Psychological comfort is an inevitable aspect in user satisfaction studies. This paper, therefore, measures and predicts the relationship between design factors and employees’ satisfaction through case studies in The Netherlands. The findings help designers, architects, planners and facility managers to develop user-focussed office design principles supporting employees’ work performance.
Highlights
User satisfaction becomes more and more important in office design
A recent trend in the research field favours physical comfort of office users, which is called satisfaction with working conditions assessed by post-occupancy evaluation
This paper examined the psychological satisfaction based on design factors for office buildings
Summary
User satisfaction becomes more and more important in office design. Environmental psychology has been studied by empirical research from the ergonomics field, which normally gives immediate responses towards the working environment. In Europe, the environmental psychology of office users has analysed at the individual and organisational level (Sundstrom and Sundstrom, 1986). A recent trend in the research field favours physical comfort of office users, which is called satisfaction with working conditions assessed by post-occupancy evaluation. Early studies by Altman (1975) developed the connection of physical environment and users through social–psychological analyses, including privacy and territoriality. Many studies have highlighted the importance of user satisfaction for promoting work performance and productivity (Tanabe et al, 2015; De Been and Beijer, 2014). It is essential to understand employees’ perception and how workplaces are used for better support of office users
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