Sami Kärnä

The role of multi-firm satisfaction in construction project success

Construction project success depends on the multi-firm project organizations involved working together satisfactorily. Yet, satisfaction within multi-firm relationships has rarely been examined as a determinant of construction project success. A pioneering study is carried out to evaluate the extent to which construction project participants’ perception of each other’s performance reflects on the owner’s perception of project success. The data represent 580 performance evaluations carried out among the project owners, project consultants, main contractors and designers. The owner-evaluated performance factors related to the project goals form a dependent variable called Project Success. Dependencies between Project Success and the various performance factors are identified based on Pearson’s correlation coefficients. Dependencies were discovered between Project Success and all owner-related relationships and all but one of the non-owner-related relationships. Preliminary sets of discipline-specific and evaluator-specific success factors are identified. The results support the proposition that satisfaction within both owner-related and non-owner-related relationships is reflected on success. Therefore, researchers and practitioners are encouraged to consider project success in terms of multi-firm satisfaction and to engage with multi-firm performance measurement to better understand the heterogeneous performance factors contributing to multi-firm project success.

A framework for measuring student and staff satisfaction with university campus facilities

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to evaluate and discuss the extent of the satisfaction as perceived by the students and staff towards university facilities and services in two campuses in Finland. The aim is to analyse which facility-related factors have the greatest impacts on students’ and staff’s overall satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – The extensive survey was conducted to investigate how the university students and staff assess the university campus and facility services. A framework was developed to prioritise the satisfaction factors towards the facilities in two campuses in the both groups. The study was executed with the statistical assessment method, which combines each question’s mean value and how it affects overall satisfaction. Findings – The findings show that there are differences in the main features of the satisfaction as assessed by the groups and between the two campuses. Student satisfaction consist of factors related to comfortable learning environment, where public ...

User satisfaction on a university campus by students and staff

A university and its campus is a heterogenic environment with the purpose of supporting the functions of the university and the versatile needs of its most central users: staff and students. The facility resources of the university and their management thus play an important role in achieving the goals of the university by providing the users with versatile learning environments and an effective infrastructure as a basis for the university functions. The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of different factors in the overall satisfaction among the staff and students. The empirical data of the study consisted of an enquiry conducted among the staff and the students and statistically analysed using regression analysis. According to the results, the staff and students primarily appreciated the facilities’ overall appearance and cleanliness. In addition, campus security and cleanliness of the outdoor areas showed relation to the overall satisfaction, and also the quality of the indoor air was a significant factor. The study helps in perceiving the development of a university campus as a whole in which the factors related to the facilities and the entire campus infrastructure influence the satisfaction among the staff and the students.