Relationships of Task–Environment Fit With Office Workers’ Concentration and Team Functioning in Activity-Based Working Environments

Abstract

Task–Environment fit, a special case of Person–Environment fit, has been suggested as the central mechanism through which Activity-Based Working (ABW) Environments support productivity and employee wellbeing, here operationalized as team functioning and concentration troubles. We extend previous work in this space by testing the asymmetric effect (where deficient supply is worse than excess supply) usually assumed, with a new statistical approach—cubic polynomial regression—capable of such tests. The complex models gained only partial support and none for a strict congruence effect. Results are more in line with previous work on P–E fit showing that higher levels of needs met are more valuable, and with previous ABW work showing that the supply of suitable environments has the largest impact on outcomes.