The role of design personalization in enhancing knowledge workers’ experience in virtual reality workspaces

Virtual reality (VR) offers highly flexible spatial environments that can address the growing demand for personalized workspaces among knowledge workers. Despite this potential, the role and practical impacts of design personalization in a Virtual Reality Workspace (VRWS) remain underexplored, as space in VR has been merely underestimated as visual backdrops without practical support. This study aims to gain an in-depth understanding of the relationship of design personalization with knowledge workers’ psychological well-being and work performance using a VRWS prototype for participants to customize VRWSs within defined parameters. Using a mixed methodology that combined a within-subjects design, involving controlled exposure to multiple VRWS environments, with post-exposure qualitative interviews, the research reveals that design personalization enhanced participants’ psychological well-being, workspace satisfaction, and work performance. These findings underscore the importance of aesthetics and user-driven processes in designing VRWSs and position personalization as the critical factor for future VR-based work cultures.