Effects of Office Environment Design on Expectations for Communication

606-8501, Japan Abstract : Prior studies suggest that an office environment is associated with communication-related psychological factors, including emotional state, impressions of personality, and psychological distance. We developed a hypothetical model where three psychological factors are assumed to mediate the relationship between the office environment design and expectations for effective communication. To examine this hypothesis, we surveyed white-collar men (N=400) via questionnaires. The experimental framework investigated the effects of visual design factors on expectations for communication, with the three psychological factors as mediating factors. Path analyses revealed that the impressions of “bright” and “warm” in the office environment influenced emotional state and impressions of the personality, while the impression of “natural” affected the psychological distance. Further, our analyses showed that these three psychological factors are linked to expectations for communication and for trusting other individuals. These results suggest that an office environment that gives bright, warm and natural impressions may be facilitative