Green Buildings, Environmental Awareness, and Organizational Image

Abstract

The paper reports a study that was conducted to understand the relationships between the occupants’ assessments of the environmental design features of a “green” building and their assessments of environmental awareness (EA) and organizational image (OI). The study hypothesized that the occupant’s assessments of individual workspace and departmental space features of a “green” building would directly affect their assessments of EA and OI, or that the occupant’s assessments of individual workspace and departmental space features would indirectly affect their assessments of EA and OI through their satisfaction with individual workspace, departmental spaces and/or the building. In order to test these hypotheses, data were collected from 175 occupants of the Gold‐level LEED‐certified “green” building using a questionnaire instrument. Using frequency, correlational, and regression analyses of the data, the study found little or no evidence for direct relationships between the occupant’s assessments of individual workspace and departmental space features and their assessments of EA and OI. The study, however, found some evidence for indirect relationships between the occupant’s assessments of individual workspace and departmental space features and their assessment of EA and OI. The evidence showed that the occupant’s assessments of individual workspace and departmental space features had affected their satisfaction with individual workspaces and the building, which then affected the occupants’ assessments of EA and OI. The study is important for it provides evidence for connecting green buildings to organizational benefits and values.