Differences in Office-Based Personal Space Perception Between British and Korean Populations
We sought to understand how the perception of personal space is influenced by different levels of social density, spatial density, and type of view impact in South Korea and in the United Kingdom. We employed virtual reality (VR) technology to simulate shared and single occupancy offices and tested a sample of 20 British and 24 Korean participants. Uniquely, we obtained personal space estimations using a virtual disc around the participant which could be extended and retracted to indicate perceived amount of personal space. A more traditional personal space satisfaction score was also determined. We found that in both cultures participants experienced greater perceived personal space 1) when in a sparse rather than dense office and 2) having a view of the city outside the office. Both British and Korean participants had higher personal space satisfaction in the single occupancy office than in shared offices. However, British, but not Korean, participants had significantly higher personal space estimations in single occupancy offices than in shared offices. These results suggest that there is some disparity between abstract scores of personal space satisfaction and more concrete personal space estimates; further, this may be linked to subtle cross-cultural differences in workplace experience.