Specification and empirical exploration of a usability concept in the built environment

Airo, Kaisa; Nenonen, Suvi; Windlinger Inversini, Lukas

Publication type:	Conference other
Type of review:	Not specified
Title:	Specification and empirical exploration of a usability concept in the built environment
Authors:	Airo, Kaisa Nenonen, Suvi Windlinger Inversini, Lukas
Conference details:	EFMC 2010, Madrid, Spain, 1-2 June 2010
Issue Date:	2010
Language:	English
Subjects:	Usability; Büro; Workplace
Subject (DDC):	331: Labor economics
Abstract:	Research on usability of workplaces has investigated processes concepts and methods of usability in variety of case studies. Building on fundamental work on usability of workplaces this paper extends the perspective of usability as an approach in delivering built environment solutions. In order to explore the content and implications of usability, the concept is differentiated into two sub-concepts, usefulness and user-friendliness. The theoretical rationale for the proposed conceptual specification is presented and explored using data from two research projects, using a qualitative and a quantitative approach, respectively. The goal of the empirical research is to capture the elements of user experience connected to usability using the distinction between usefulness and user-friendliness. The results from both studies, a qualitative interview study in an office relocation project in Finland and a quantitative survey study of 1420 office users of 43 buildings in Switzerland, show that functionality of workspaces in relation to work tasks are the main element of usefulness. User-friendliness incorporates comfort and control as the two most important aspects. Correlations between usefulness and user-friendliness and outcomes of usable workspace design are low for self-assessed performance, moderate for job satisfaction and high for work area satisfaction. Providing useful workplaces supports users job performance while designing for user-friendliness is correlated with user satisfaction.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/6398
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Departement:	Life Sciences and Facility Management
Organisational Unit:	Institute of Facility Management (IFM)
Appears in collections:	Publikationen Life Sciences und Facility Management

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Airo, K., Nenonen, S., & Windlinger Inversini, L. (2010). Specification and empirical exploration of a usability concept in the built environment. EFMC 2010, Madrid, Spain, 1-2 June 2010.

Airo, K., Nenonen, S. and Windlinger Inversini, L. (2010) ‘Specification and empirical exploration of a usability concept in the built environment’, in EFMC 2010, Madrid, Spain, 1-2 June 2010.

K. Airo, S. Nenonen, and L. Windlinger Inversini, “Specification and empirical exploration of a usability concept in the built environment,” in EFMC 2010, Madrid, Spain, 1-2 June 2010, 2010.

AIRO, Kaisa, Suvi NENONEN und Lukas WINDLINGER INVERSINI, 2010. Specification and empirical exploration of a usability concept in the built environment. In: EFMC 2010, Madrid, Spain, 1-2 June 2010. Conference presentation. 2010

Airo, Kaisa, Suvi Nenonen, and Lukas Windlinger Inversini. 2010. “Specification and Empirical Exploration of a Usability Concept in the Built Environment.” Conference presentation. In EFMC 2010, Madrid, Spain, 1-2 June 2010.

Airo, Kaisa, et al. “Specification and Empirical Exploration of a Usability Concept in the Built Environment.” EFMC 2010, Madrid, Spain, 1-2 June 2010, 2010.