Workplace Connectivity: A Study of its Impacts on Self-Assessed Productivity

Previous researchers have had difficulty in defining what constitutes office productivity, especially in 'knowledge' environments rather than 'processing' environments. The main body of published research that attempts to address the link largely addresses the physical environment. It falls into two main categories, those of office layout and office comfort. It must be noted that much of the physical environment literature lacks any theoretical framework. This study developed a validated theoretical framework for the evaluation of office productivity, and included components to represent both the physical and the behavioural environment. It is proposed that by adopting such an approach, insights into the dynamic nature, or connectivity, of office environments can be established. The main objective of this research was to investigate the effects of the office environment on its occupantis perceived productivity. The studyis strength is that it is based on two sizable data sets. Whilst the data collected contain data about the physical characteristics of the office environment, it had in addition data pertaining to the behavioural environment. The categorical data collected provided a unique opportunity to undertake an analysis of office occupiers by work process type. One of the key contributions of this study was the development of the components of office productivity, which were: comfort, office layout, informal interaction points, environmental services, designated areas, interaction and distraction. The components were reduced to four in preparation for a more detailed statistical analysis. The four distinct components were comfort, office layout, interaction and distraction.