I don't doubt it in the short term, but I fear these are the sorts of articles that give people one more reason to want to stick their employees in open offices

I don't doubt it in the short term, but I fear these are the sorts of articles that give people one more reason to want to stick their employees in open offices. The usual excuses presented to employees are handwavey things like "collaboration" and "teamwork", but the excuses presented to other managers can also involve things like "employees are more likely to feel self-conscious from visibility, and less likely to slack off". Even that's just scrounging for some excuse other than cutting corners to save money.