Tenants' office leasing motivators toward the tangible and symbolic aspects of office buildings: Between Green and Non-Green Buildings

Abstract

Increasing interests in the sustainable development of the Australian building sector has resulted in a surge of green buildings across the country. Nonetheless, limited studies have been done to compare green and non-green building tenants' leasing motivators. To address this gap, this study aims to examine tenants' leasing motivators toward tangible and symbolic aspects of office buildings. To this, a questionnaire survey was conducted, and the obtained responses were analysed using the Mann-Whitney U test, followed by an examination on their effect sizes. The results show that green buildings tenants put more emphasis on certain tangible aspects of office buildings such as building sustainability ratings, building quality and energy efficiency. Likewise, green building tenants' higher emphasis on several symbolic aspects of office buildings, including their attractiveness to future employees, was found. The results inform policymakers and building owners that understanding tenants' leasing motivators and establish targeted strategy is important to provide adequate office spaces.