The analysis presented in this paper leads to conclude that
several factors unrelated to environmental quality statistically
significantly influence the difference in occupant satisfaction between
LEED and non-LEED certified buildings, but the effect size of
158 S. Schiavon, S. Altomonte / Building and Environment 77 (2014) 148e159
such variations is, for most, practically negligible. Therefore, based
also on the results presented by the authors in Ref. [1], it can be
concluded that occupants of LEED-rated buildings have equal
satisfaction with the building, the workspace, and various parameters
of indoor environmental quality than users of non-LEED
certified buildings independently of office type, spatial layout,
distance from window, building size, gender, age, type of work, and
weekly working hours.
Conversely, consideration of time spent at the workspace (less
or more than one year) presents statistically significant and practically
relevant differences in occupant satisfaction with the
building, the workspace, and several other IEQ parameters, for
which occupants of LEED buildings tend to be more satisfied. The
results obtained suggest that the positive value of LEED certification
from the point of view of the satisfaction of occupants may tend to
decrease with time.
The other main conclusions that can be drawn from the study
described in this paper are:
Occupant satisfaction with the workspace is higher in LEED
buildings for users of open spaces with limited or no partitions,
or with group work areas. Statistically significant differences in
satisfaction with other IEQ parameters also suggest that LEEDrated
buildings may be more effective in providing occupant
satisfaction in open spaces rather than in enclosed offices,
although the effect size for most of these variations is practically
negligible.
LEED-rated office spaces may be more effective in delivering
occupant satisfaction in small rather than in large buildings,
even if most of the statistically significant differences detected
do not have a practically relevant effect size.
The number of ‘not available’ responses in the categories related
to age, gender, type of work, and time at workspace seems to
suggest reluctance from building occupants to provide personal
information when asked to report on their satisfaction with the
environmental quality of their place of work.