User perspectives in smart office environments A stated choice approach to determine user preferences and expectations regarding smart office features

Smart office concepts have become popular due to the increasing use of technology that will
help measure and improve the environment for the office user. The goal is to provide efficient
and effective workplaces that respond to work dynamics and user needs (Zhou et al., 2020;
Tuzcuoglu et al., 2021). However, the primary focus on smart office concepts is developing
technology. Few studies have addressed the user perspective regarding preferences and
expectations (Tuzcuoglu et al., 2021; Noceraet al., 2015). Those studies do not give a clear
insight into whether these related functions provide the right smart office development
regarding the users’ preferences. It is unclear what users prefer and expects from smart office
environments (Haapakangas et al., 2018; Tuzcuoglu et al., 2021). Therefore, this study aimed
to get insight into user expectations and preferences regarding seven smart features. In
addition, it also tried to determine how the attributes of smart features should be designed
to contribute to the users’ needs. Therefore, a stated choice experiment is used to evaluate
five attributes that meet the user expectations and preferences. The Multinomial Logit
models show that smart meeting room booking, smart indoor climate control of temperature,
and smart indoor climate control of air quality are the most preferred smart features. In
addition, the analysis conducted with the Latent Class model indicated two classes, namely
Adapters and Rejecters. The main difference between those classes is that the Rejecters do
not want to share personal data with the smart feature. Furthermore, the study gives a clear
insight into the relevancy of including the office users in developing the smart feature rather
than just focusing on the technology.