Finding your place in a new workspace: Examining employees’ adaptation in physical workspaces

Abstract

Workspaces have become more open and flexible environments, which require employees to adapt in order to perform. While research shows how open spaces influence employees’ interactions and performance, we still know little about how employees adapt during workspace transitions and their experiences once they are in those spaces. Drawing on self-regulation theory, we examine the adaptation efforts of job crafting and identity marking and the responses individuals adopt during a workspace transition. We do so through a mixed-method field study of one organisation’s workspace transition. Study 1 involved pre- and post-workspace-change employee interviews to identify factors that affected adaptation. Study 2 was a diary study during the first days of the transition and showed that employees’ job crafting enhanced adaptation through positive affective arousal. Daily identity marking strengthened the indirect effects. Research and practical implications are discussed.

JEL Classification: M10