Organizations increasingly design workplaces to incorporate biophilic elements – i.e., elements of nature. Whereas extant research follows the evolutionary foundation of biophilic theory to emphasize the effect of nature on workers, this study extends inquiry to the sensemaking pathways through which individuals ascribe value to biophilic work environments. Drawing on hedonic valuation and affective events theory, we delineate a preference and “willingness to pay” for nature at work via a direct path of anticipated hedonic utility and an indirect path of affective spillover and attributions towards the employing organization. We triangulate support for this model through national survey data (Study 1), a between-person experiment (Study 2), and a within-person experiment combined with qualitative data (Study 3). These findings contribute an interpretivist perspective to biophilic theory and inform understanding of subjectively perceived physical work environments and non-pecuniary workplace benefits, particularly in relation to biophilic design.
