# Lunch breaks as a buffer: mitigating the negative effects of road traffic noise on urban employee workplace behavior

## TL;DR

This study shows that road traffic noise at home affects employees' mental health and workplace behavior, but lunch breaks can help reduce these negative effects.

## Contribution

The study introduces lunch break environment as a novel moderator of the relationship between road traffic noise annoyance and mental health complaints.

## Key findings

- Residential road traffic noise annoyance is linked to mental health complaints, work withdrawal, and workplace aggression.
- Mental health complaints mediate the relationship between noise annoyance and work behaviors.
- Lunch break environment reduces the negative impact of noise annoyance on mental health complaints.

## Abstract

The impact of road traffic noise annoyance on individual health is well-documented in environmental and health studies. However, less attention has been given to its negative effects on employees’ work behaviors and effective mitigation strategies.

Drawing on conservation of resources theory and general strain theory, this research conducted a three-wave survey involving 816 urban employees from 304 Chinese cities.

The results revealed a significant positive correlation between residential road traffic noise annoyance and employees’ mental health complaints, work withdrawal, and workplace aggressive behaviors. Mental health complaints were confirmed to fully and partially mediate the relationship between noise annoyance and work withdrawal and workplace aggressive behaviors, respectively. The organizational lunch break environment negatively moderates the link between residential road traffic noise annoyance and mental health complaints.

These findings underscore the importance of addressing noise annoyance to enhance both employee welfare and organizational efficacy.