Avoiding Intrusions at the Office: Privacy Regulation on Typical and High Solitude Days

Laboratory experiments suggest that individuals are reluctant to ask others to leave them alone unless aspects of the situation support their doing so and that some modes of making the request are more comfortable than others. The present study produced similar findings and also extended our understanding of privacy processes. Some 42 school administrators completed a questionnaire about their job activities, job stresses, and their privacy regulation mechanisms. They also provided maps of their offices. As expected, people tended to avoid using privacy mechanisms that involved direct rejection of the individual. Also as expected, mechanisms were used most often when their use could be justified by some aspect of the situation, in this case particular job demands. That is, (a) individuals who experienced job demands requiring solitude (as opposed to more psychological job demands, such as role uncertainty) were most likely to use behavioral privacy regulation mechanisms, and (b) use of both direct and indirect mechanisms increased from typical days to occasions requiring solitude. Results also confirmed the hypotheses that (a) the mechanisms would be used in combinations, including environmental and interpersonal combinations, and (b) the cohesiveness of the combinations would increase with job demands. This article supports the view that privacy mechanisms are used selectively (some used more than others) and in combinations, and are used primarily when the situation supports their use.