Red or blue meeting rooms: does it matter? The impact of colour on perceived productivity, social cohesion and wellbeing
Januari 2013 | Iris Bakker, Theo van der Voordt, Jan de Boon, Peter Vink
The purpose of this paper is to establish the influences of the colours red and blue on perceived well being, social cohesion and productivity in complex real life work conditions during regular meetings.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, seven regular government teams held seven regular meetings in red, blue and reference meeting rooms. In literature it is often mentioned that red is a warm and blue a cool colour. To be able to test the warmth and coldness effects the authors have amplified the warm and cold qualities with light colour and colour of the table top desk. The employees were asked to complete questionnaires concerning perceived well being, social cohesion and productivity.
Findings
The findings did not show any effects of the red and blue environment on perceived well being, social cohesion and productivity. The authors assume the processes in real life work situations are too complex to measure influences.