Connecting Workspace, Work Design, and Outcomes Through Work Design: Themes, Models, and Directions

Abstract

Although findings from rigorous research have connected work design to important work outcomes (e.g. performance, wellbeing), the quantity and quality of research connecting workspace to work outcomes is lacking. We argue that while there are other ways that workspace and work design might work together (e.g. they could have interactive effects), our focus is on work design as a mediating mechanism that links workspace to outcomes. This chapter synthesizes multiple literatures to propose plausible models of how workspace shapes psychological aspects of work. Entrepreneurial co-working spaces, cognition at work, ageing workforce, and work design profiles are future research directions.