Indoor Environment Quality and Productivity: Fable or Fact? A review of past studies

Abstract

Extensive research that observed a positive relationship between occupant productivity and indoor environment quality (IEQ) in offices emerged in the early 2000s. Since then, it has successfully suggested that as a result of a causal link, the productivity of occupants is determined by the IEQ of an office building mainly Lighting and Temperature. Productivity is thus, the market technique that has accelerated the adoption of green rating tools as a result of it’s commercial value -the extra investment required to construct a ‘Green’ physical office building not only helped the environment but the investment is also recovered by increasing the productivity of its occupants. Through an extensive review of relevant literature, this paper illustrates the gap in research of the measurement of office occupant productivity. It presents the limitations of indicators used in measuring the relationship between IEQ and Productivity in the workplace. It concludes that while IEQ might have a relationship with comfort/satisfaction; there is no substantial evidence in research to state that this relationshipexists with productivity. As such, the use of this claim in promoting green buildings is unsubstantiated. This study is part of an on-going doctoral research in New Zealand, that explores deeper the relationship between occupant productivity and Green office buildings.