The Effect of Environmental and Ergonomic Stimuli of the Work Environment on Employees’ Behavior by the Mediating Role of General Health

Considering the importance of employees' behavior in service organizations and its significant impact on their success and failure, the present study investigates the environmental and ergonomic factors affecting on mental health and behavior of employees in one of the branches of Islamic Azad University.

The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in data gathering and analysis. The statistical population of the survey includes: 315 employees of the Rasht Branch of Azad University, out of the 196 people were selected by random sampling method and the necessary data were collected using a questionnaire. SPSS 21 software was used to describe the research variables and structural equation modeling and SMART PLS3 software were used to test the hypotheses.

According to the findings, workplace layout affects the use of work equipment (0.389), use of office chairs (0.252), and environmental conditions (0.538), but the impact of workplace layout on the posture of employees did not confirm in 5 percent significance level. Also, the impact of posture (0.586), layout (0.440), work equipment (0.458), office chair (0.345), and environmental conditions (0.550) on public health and also the effect on general health (0.690) and environmental conditions (0.158) on employees’ behavior is significant. Examining the indirect relationships of the research model also shows that workplace layout affects employee behavior through the general health and environmental conditions. Workplace layout influences employees’ behavior through work equipment, office chair, environment conditions, and general health.

The indirect effect of workplace layout on employees’ behavior through public health has the highest impact (0.304), therefore, making policy general on health, should improve employees’ behavior.