A Model of environmental and job satisfaction in open-plan offices: COPE field findings

As part of NRC's Cost-effective Open-Plan Environments project, a field study was conducted to examine occupants' satisfaction with their physical environments. The questionnaire, including satisfaction ratings of 18 environmental features, 2 overall environmental satisfaction items, and 2 job satisfaction items, was administered to 779 US and Canadian office workers, from public and private sector organizations. (Two presentations at CPA 2002 reported on a subset of these data.) This paper focuses on the factor structure of the 18 environmental features, and examines a model combining these factors, overall environmental satisfaction, and job satisfaction. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, conducted on 3 subsets of the data, supported a 3-factor structure: satisfaction with lighting, satisfaction with privacy and acoustics, and satisfaction with ventilation. The models showed acceptable fit to data from different geographical locations and organizational sectors, showing their generalisability. Structural equation modelling also confirmed a model in which these 3 factors were jointly related to overall environmental satisfaction, which in turn was related to job satisfaction. Occupants who were more satisfied with their environment also reported greater job satisfaction, suggesting a role for the physical environment in promoting organizational well-being and effectiveness.Une \ue9tude sur le terrain a \ue9t\ue9 men\ue9e dans le cadre d'un projet du CNRC, Planification rentable des aires ouvertes, afin d'examiner la satisfaction des occupants vis \ue0 vis de leur environnement physique. Le questionnaire qui contenait des degr\ue9s de satisfaction par rapport \ue0 18 composantes environnementales, 2 \ue9l\ue9ments de satisfaction vis \ue0 vis de l'environnement g\ue9n\ue9ral, 2 \ue9l\ue9ments de satisfaction vis \ue0 vis du travail, a \ue9t\ue9 distribu\ue9 \ue0 779 employ\ue9s de bureaux am\ue9ricains et canadiens, des secteurs public et priv\ue9 (deux pr\ue9sentations donn\ue9es \ue0 SCP 2002 portaient sur un sous-ensemble de ces donn\ue9es). Cet article vise plus particuli\ue8rement l'ensemble des facteurs des 18 composantes environnementales et examine un mod\ue8le combinant ces facteurs, la satisfaction vis \ue0 vis de l'environnement g\ue9n\ue9ral et la satisfaction par rapport au travail. Les analyses de facteurs pr\ue9liminaires et confirmatives, men\ue9es sur 3 sous-ensembles de donn\ue9es, ont soutenu un ensemble de 3 facteurs : satisfaction vis \ue0 vis de l'\ue9clairage, satisfaction vis \ue0 vis de l'intimit\ue9 et de l'acoustique, et satisfaction vis \ue0 vis de la ventilation. Les mod\ue8les ont montr\ue9 une ad\ue9quation acceptable avec les donn\ue9es des diff\ue9rents emplacements g\ue9ographiques et secteurs organisationnels, d\ue9montrant ainsi une g\ue9n\ue9ralisation possible. La mod\ue9lisation par \ue9quation structurelle a \ue9galement confirm\ue9 un mod\ue8le dans lequel ces trois facteurs sont \ue9troitement reli\ue9s \ue0 la satisfaction g\ue9n\ue9rale vis \ue0 vis de l'environnement, laquelle \ue9tant \ue0 son tour li\ue9e \ue0 la satisfaction au travail. Les occupants qui \ue9taient le plus satisfaits de leur environnement ont mentionn\ue9 une plus grande satisfaction vis \ue0 vis de leur travail, sugg\ue9rant un r\uf4le moteur de l'environnement physique sur le bien-\ueatre et l'efficacit\ue9 de l'organisation.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye