Spaces That Signal Identity Improve Workplace Productivity

Abstract

The physical spaces we inhabit have a profound impact on psychological functioning. People generally experience positive outcomes in spaces that support important identities and negative outcomes in spaces that threaten those identities. We investigated the effects of working in an ingroup or outgroup space on organizational performance. Participants completed exercises in a simulated work environment as a member of a research education development (RED) work team. The office space was designed to be identity affirming (decorated by a RED team), identity threatening (decorated by a rival business legacy usability and engineering [BLUE] team), or undecorated. Work teams performed better in bo..