Natalie Macias, Chris Knowles

Examining the effect of environmental certification, wood source, and price on architects’ preferences of hardwood flooring

Macias N., Knowles C. (2011). Examining the effect of environmental certification, wood source, and price on architects’ preferences of hardwood flooring. Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 1 article id 34. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.34

Abstract

This article examines the importance architects place on three factors, environmental certification, wood source, and price, when specifying hardwood flooring. Architects were presented with nine flooring scenarios, in which the three factors were present in varying levels. They were asked to rank the scenarios from the least preferred to the most preferred. Data were obtained from a mail survey of architects in Oregon and Washington, U.S.A. (n = 402). Conjoint analyses determined that architects consider price and wood source to be the most important factors when specifying hardwood flooring. Interestingly, environmental certification was considered the least important factor. The respondents were then separated into three groups for further analysis based on whether they identified themselves as more influenced by environmental factors (biocentric) or human needs (anthropocentric). This analysis showed that the biocentric group favored wood source over price and environmental certification, while the anthropocentric group favored price.

Keywords
architects; hardwood flooring; conjoint analysis; environmental certification; wood source

Received 15 April 2010 Accepted 15 March 2011 Published 31 December 2011

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