The seat of happiness? The effect of seat comfort on the achievement of psychological flow during transactional work

Abstract

Psychological flow is highly pleasurable, time-limited form of engagement in a task which has been shown to produce benefits in the workplace. Flow has historically been studied in the context of the interaction between the task and the performer. However, in work settings such as an office, many other factors may contribute to or hinder the achievement of flow. This present study broadens the research on flow to test the extent to which seating comfort while executing a challenging task influences an individual's ability to achieve flow. Fifty-four participants in this study were randomly assigned to one of two seat types and given a set of tasks to perform via a computer simulation. Seat comfort, coupled with participants' perceptions of their ability to concentrate on the simulation's set of tasks, was found to predict participants' flow experiences. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Keywords: Causal analysis; Comfort; Concentration; Psychological flow; Scale comparison.