Red or blue meeting rooms: does it matter? The impact of colour on perceived productivity, social cohesion and wellbeing

The purpose of this research 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.
Methodology: Seven regular government teams held seven regular meetings in a red, blue and reference meeting room. 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 we have amplified the warm and cold qualities with light colour and colour of the table top desk. We asked employees to complete questionnaires concerning perceived well being, social cohesion and productivity. Fifty two subjects completed three questionnaires, at the start, the end and two or three days after the meeting. Data were analysed with SPSS 16.
Our findings didn’t show any effects of the red and blue environment on perceived well being, social cohesion and productivity. We assume the processes in real life work situations are too complex to measure influences. Practical implications are that statements frequently mentioned in literature concerning influences of red and blue might be not valid in real life meeting settings. New ways of testing the impact of colours should be reconsidered. Because lab situations are too simplified and artificial, we suggest testing influences of colour in an isolated setting in relation to art.
The originality of this research concerns testing colour influences in complex real life work settings like meetings.