Occupants’ satisfaction toward building environmental quality: structural equation modeling approach

Abstract

It is accepted that occupants who are more satisfied with their workplace's building internal environment are more productive. The main objective of the study was to measure the occupants' level of satisfaction and the perceived importance of the design or refurbishment on office conditions. The study also attempted to determine the factors affecting the occupants' satisfaction with their building or office conditions. Post-occupancy evaluations were conducted using a structured questionnaire developed by the Built Environment Research Group at the University of Manchester, UK. Our questionnaires incorporate 22 factors relating to the internal environment and rate these in terms of "user satisfaction" and "degree of importance." The questions were modified to reflect the specific setting of the study and take into consideration the local conditions and climate in Malaysia. The overall mean satisfaction of the occupants toward their office environment was 5.35. The results were measured by a single item of overall liking of office conditions in general. Occupants were more satisfied with their state of health in the workplace, but they were extremely dissatisfied with the distance away from a window. The factor analysis divided the variables into three groups, namely intrusion, air quality, and office appearance. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was then used to determine which factor had the most significant influence on occupants' satisfaction: appearance. The findings from the study suggest that continuous improvement in aspects of the building's appearance needs to be supported with effective and comprehensive maintenance to sustain the occupants' satisfaction.

Supporting Post-Occupant Evaluation Through Work Order Evaluation and Visualization in FM-BIM

“…Few studies have linked BIM with POE, notably the work of Göçer et al [3,9] who created a GIS and BIM-enabled platform to support bi-directional communication between FM teams and users and created a series of supporting BIM visualizations of POE survey results. This paper responds to existing research gap of POE integration within BIM [5] and presents strategies for leveraging maintenance work orders to enhance and complement POEs. An FM-BIM integration approach is integral to implementation, providing an information management framework and visualization capacity.…”

“…The first three are best defined by the presence of alarms, incident reports, and security system information, which can all be integrated in an FM-BIM, but this is beyond the scope of this initial study. Acoustic, thermal, visual, and indoor air quality [5] define the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of a space and address the latter two categories while reports of broken fixtures, furniture and equipment (FFE) and custodial and groundskeeping requests indicate compromised functionality and condition issues (covering both maintenance and cleanliness) of specific elements within the space.…”

“…While there is little consensus regarding the definition of POE [4], several elements are commonly considered within the scope of such studies: indoor air quality (IAQ), indoor environmental (thermal, acoustic, visual & spatial) quality, space functionality, asset condition, cleanliness, aesthetics, sound privacy, workspace & building features, occupant behaviour, occupant health & safety, and user satisfaction/comfort [5][6][7][8][9][10]. User surveys are the most common source of information for POEs [5], and are often combined with in-situ measurements to contextualize user responses [3,7].…”

Structural Model for the Effects of Perceived Indoor Work Environment on Sick Building Syndrome and Stress

“…Failure to be adaptive to stress has dire consequences at individual and organizational levels [2]. Studies have shown that SBS and stress not only has an impact on productivity [3] [4], but also on job satisfaction [5] [6] and other organizational outcomes. In a nutshell, SBS and stress have a prevalent influence on organizational effectiveness.…”

The Combined Effect of Indoor Air Quality and Socioeconomic Factors on Health in Northeast China

“…Tharim et al identified the link between IEQ, occupants' satisfaction and productivity in GBI rated office Building based on PLS-SEM [25]. Kamaruzzaman et al applied the SEM approach to determine which indoor environmental factor had the most significant impact on occupants' satisfaction [26]. Finell et al explored whether indoor air problems observed in schools associated with students' perceptions of the teacher-student relationship and class spirit [27].The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to identify the combined effects of indoor air quality and socioeconomic factors on health based on structural equation modeling, using the field measurement data in Northeast China.…”