Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the respondents of a survey exploring attitudes towards wooden multi-storey building (WMSB) in seven European countries. Populations Eurostat (2023).
Austria Denmark Finland Germany Norway Sweden United Kingdom All
Population
   n (million) 9.1 5.9 5.6 84.4 5.5 10.5 67* 188
Survey respondents
   n 1000 1000 1000 1001 1001 1003 1002 7007
   Average age 46.6 48.4 48.4 48.9 47.2 48.4 46.9 47.9
Respondents gender
   Male 48% 49% 49% 49% 50% 49% 49% 49%
   Female 52% 51% 51% 51% 50% 51% 51% 51%
Size of population in area where respondents live
   >1 000 000 23% 22% 22% 16% 13% 21% 15% 19%
   100 000–1 000 000 13% 18% 27% 24% 22% 26% 23% 22%
   10 000–100 000 23% 33% 32% 33% 29% 29% 38% 31%
   Village < 10 000 26% 18% 9% 18% 20% 13% 20% 18%
   Countryside 16% 9% 10% 8% 16% 11% 4% 11%
Children in household (under 18 years)
   None 73% 75% 81% 74% 70% 74% 71% 74%
   1 child 14% 12% 10% 14% 14% 11% 14% 13%
   2 children or more 13% 13% 9% 12% 16% 15% 15% 13%
Experience of WMSB
   Visited WMSBs built in the 2000’s 3.6% 2.9% 6.6% 1.5% 7.8% 7.0% 3.7% 4.7%
   Lived in WMSBs built in the 2000’s 0.9% 1.8% 1.0% 1.3% 5.1% 1.9% 1.1% 1.9%
* Population in 2020. Newer data for United Kingdom was not available through Eurostat.
Table 2. Background variables and variable types utilized in this study.
Variable Variable type
Attractiveness of WMSBs Likert scale: 1 = not attractive, 9 = very attractive (10 = I don’t know)
Country Choice (categorical): Denmark; Finland; Norway; Sweden; Germany; UK; Austria
Region Choice (categorical): Type of living environment: the capital region or a metropolitan area (> 1 million inhabitants); in a large city (100 000–1 000 000 inhabitants); in a small or medium sized city (10 000–100 000 inhabitants); in a village (<10 000 inhabitants); in the countryside
Age Numerical, range 18–99. Divided into two groups, “young” (<35 years) and “older” (35+ years)
Home ownership type Choice (categorical): Owning, renting, other
Type of housing Choice (categorical): Detached, single-family house; semi-detached house; townhouse/row house; apartment-building (1–2 stories (floors)); apartment in a multi-storey building (minimum 3 stories (floors)); other
Forest-related job Choice (yes/no): Have you ever had, a job (work) connected to the forest-based, the building or the real estate sector?
Building and real estate related job Choice (yes/no): Have you ever had, a job (work) connected to the forest-based, the building or the real estate sector?
Table 3. List of variables and their expected impact on the attractiveness of wooden multi-storey building (WMSB) (adapted from Roos et al. 2023).
Variable H0 and rationale
Attractiveness of WMSB Dependent variable
Country: Existing wood construction culture +
The relative extent of wood resources increases the likelihood of a country to favor wood in construction, increasing familiarity (Hurmekoski 2016; Ranacher et al. 2020)
Region: Rural +
Less urban surroundings may mean more direct relationship with forests and sustainable resource extraction, as well as increased familiarity towards wood construction (Lindkvist et al. 2012; Hemström et al. 2014; Kylkilahti et al. 2020)
Age +/–
Generally, younger consumers are more environmentally conscious and support wood construction (Toppinen et al. 2018), although the impact could also be non-linear, peaking in the middle age (Fisher et al. 2012; Ranacher et al. 2020)
Home ownership type: Rental +
Less risk when not owning an apartment
Type of housing: Detached +/–
Detached houses are more likely to be built of wood, which increases familiarity (Kylkilahti et al. 2020). However, some residents currently living in a detached house may dislike apartments in multi-storey buildings regardless of material, decreasing the attractiveness of WMSB.
Forest-related job: Yes +
Increases familiarity
Building and real estate related job: Yes +
Increases familiarity
1

Fig. 1. Overall attractiveness scoring of wooden multi-storey buildings (WMSBs) among all respondents (n = 7007), 1 = not attractive, 9 = very attractive.

Table 4. Consumer segments identified in this study and their proportion of all respondents.
Segment name Sub-segment name Segment characteristics n % of all respondents
Young urbans Young (under 35 years) consumers living in a big city or metropolitan area 939 13%
Young urbans Young urban detached Young urban consumers living in a detached house 115 2%
Young urbans Young urban MSB Young urban consumers living in a multi-storey building 484 7%
Young urbans Young urban professionals Young urban consumers with a job related to forest sector or construction 128 2%
Older urbans Older (35 years and above) consumers living in a big city or metropolitan area 1919 27%
Older urbans Older urban detached Older urban consumers living in a detached house 356 5%
Older urban Older urban MSB Older urban consumers living in a multi-storey building 869 12%
Older urban Older urban homeowners Older urban consumers owning a home 1118 16%
Young rurals Young (under 35 years) consumers living in a village or countryside 406 6%
Young rurals Young rural detached Young rural consumers living in a detached house 198 3%
Young rurals Young rural MSB Young rural consumers living in a multi-storey building 37 1%
Older rurals Older (35 years and above) consumers living in a village or countryside 1569 22%
Older rurals Older rural detached Older rural consumers living in a detached house 999 14%
Older rurals Older rural MSB Older rural consumers living in a multi-storey building 110 2%
Older rurals Older rural homeowners Older rural consumers owning a home 1209 17%
2

Fig. 2. Box and whisker plot visualizing the attractiveness scoring of WMSBs by consumer segments, 1 = not attractive, 9 = very attractive. The vertical lines inside the boxes indicate the median value. The left boundary of the box is the 1st quartile, Q1 and the right boundary the 3rd quartile, Q3. The length of the box is the interquartile range, IQR. Whiskers represent the minimum (on the left) and maximum (on the right) values above Q1–1.5×IQR and below Q3+1.5×IQR.

3

Fig. 3. The importance of fire safety when determining the attractiveness of WMSBs as ranked by all respondents (1 = the most important attribute, 9 = the least important attribute; 0 = attribute of no importance).

4

Fig. 4. Box and whisker plot visualizing the importance of fire safety when determining the attractiveness of WMSBs by consumer segments. The left boundary of the box is the 1st quartile, Q1 and the right boundary the 3rd quartile, Q3. The length of the box is the interquartile range, IQR. Whiskers represent the minimum (on the left) and maximum (on the right) values above Q1–1.5×IQR and below Q3+1.5×IQR.

5

Fig. 5. Changes in the scoring of the attractiveness of WMSBs after receiving information on fire safety, organized by consumer segments. Dark grey bar indicates that the attractiveness scoring of WMSBs increased after receiving information, light grey indicates the attractiveness scoring decreased after receiving information, and black bar indicates there was no change in the attractiveness scoring of WMSBs.

6

Fig. 6. Consumer segments identified in the study. The percentages refer to the proportion of all respondents. The segments in Italics overlap with the other sub-segments. Bolded font indicates the segments that scored the attractiveness of WMSBs on average highest, while underlined font indicates the segments that scored the attractiveness of WMSB on average lowest.