The impacts of artificial indoor plants on indoor air quality and employee experience of workplace among office workers

Husni, Izzah Irdina (2023) The impacts of artificial indoor plants on indoor air quality and employee experience of workplace among office workers. [Project Paper] (Submitted)

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Abstract

Introduction: It was discovered that humans are biologically drawn to nature and like to recharge in natural settings, which according to the biophilia synthesis, people feel more connected and respond positively towards nature. Exposure to the natural environment can be beneficial for the health of humans, physically and mentally; therefore, the biophilia concept can be applied by incorporating artificial plants in the indoor environment. Objectives: The study was conducted to investigate the impacts of artificial plants towards the level of indoor air quality (IAQ) and employee workplace experience among office workers working at Cyberjaya, Selangor. Methodology: One-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was employed with purposive sampling to carry out this study. Questionnaires were used to determine the impact of the intervention towards employee workplace experience while IAQ instruments were used to measure IAQ parameters. The intervention utilizes artificial indoor plants which are placed in strategic location of a specific office area for one month (4 weeks). Results and Discussion: A total of 93 respondents participated in this research. No significant difference was reported for all IAQ parameters (p>0.05) post-experiment. Contrarily, Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed that there was significant difference in most of the employee experience (symptoms, physical workplace factors, work conditions, work environment and productivity) from pre-intervention to post-intervention (p<0.05). Overall findings suggest that majority of the respondents (office workers working in the Financial Department) had positive experience with the introduction of the artificial plants as an alternative design solution to replace real plants in office area. Among specific items which were significantly noteworthy, they felt that artificial plants made their office more interesting and stimulating (Z= -9.592, p<0.001), aesthetically pleasing (Z= -8.673, p<0.001) and boosted their work productivity (Z= -8.13, p<0.001). Conclusion: The usage of inanimate elements of biophilic design, specifically artificial plants as shown in this study did not cause the IAQ to deteriorate; there were instead significant improvement in terms of working experiences which warrant further investigation using a more robust experimental study design and methodology. Keywords: indoor air quality, employee workplace experience, productivity, symptoms, office workers

Item Type:	Project Paper
Faculty:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
Depositing User:	Ms Norafizah Radzuan
Date Deposited:	14 Jun 2024 01:47
Last Modified:	14 Jun 2024 01:47
URI:	http://psaspb.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/1721

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