Impact of occupants’ demographics on indoor environmental quality satisfaction in the workplace

ABSTRACT

Post-Occupancy Evaluations are used to study occupants’ well-being and subjective responses to indoor environmental quality (IEQ), including factors such as thermal, lighting, and acoustic conditions. In this research, a large-scale study analysed 2275 occupants’ responses from 30 workplace buildings across nine years to explore the diverse impacts of demographic factors on IEQ satisfaction. The Sustainable Post-Occupancy Evaluation Survey, a self-administered and online-based questionnaire was used. The results indicated that male occupants have a greater tendency to be satisfied with thermal conditions, acoustic conditions, electric lighting, and privacy than female occupants. The middle age group (35–54yearrs) was less satisfied with the IEQs than the younger (18–34years) and older (+55years) groups. In addition, occupants who had worked less than 2 years were more satisfied with most IEQ factors than occupants who had worked more than 2 years. Occupants who worked less than 20 h/week were more satisfied with IEQ factors than occupants who worked more than 20 h/week. This study demonstrates the impacts of demographic differences on workplace occupants’ satisfaction with IEQ factors. In addition to adding to the existing literature, this comprehensive longitudinal study provides findings that may inform future workplace design to enhance occupants’ satisfaction with IEQ.

KEYWORDS:

• Demographics
• indoor environmental quality
• post-occupancy evaluation
• satisfaction
• workplace

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and University of Minnesota Agriculture Research and Extension (AES) program.