Employee affective and behavioral reactions to the spatial density of physical work environments

This field study of a medical clinic found that employees in spatially dense work areas (i.e., those with little space available per person) experienced higher levels of perceived crowding, transfer intentions, and tardiness, as well as lower work area satisfaction, than employees in low-density areas. Crowding perceptions explained the relations between spatial density and the measures of work area satisfaction and tardiness. Finally, when employees had high workloads and their jobs required physical movement, spatial density had weaker relations to crowding perceptions and area satisfaction than in other conditions. Implications of these findings for human resource practitioners are discussed.