Abstract
Purpose: Proper management and maintenance of building stock are vital to sustainable development of a city for a number of reasons, for example, the close relationship between building performance and residents' health. However, effective housing management requires active participation of the residents, particularly the homeowners. Yet, homeowners' participation in housing management in Hong Kong is claimed to remain at a low level because of its voluntary nature. This paper aims to empirically explore the determinants of participation behaviour of homeowners in private housing management in the city based on survey findings.
Design/methodology/approach: Founded on the literature reviewed, an analytic model for explaining homeowners' participation behaviour in housing management is developed. The model is then tested by means of logit regression with the data collected from a structured questionnaire survey conducted in summer 2009. A total of 346 respondents from 53 private multi-storey residential buildings in the western district were surveyed.
Findings: In general, older, better educated and less wealthy homeowners are active participants in building management matters, keeping other things constant. Sense of community is also found to be a significant determinant. Besides, homeowners' approach towards building care is predominantly reactive since they engage in housing management because of their dissatisfaction with building quality. The findings of the research will provide valuable insights to public administrators for formulating better policies on private housing management.
Practical implications: The analysis results pose a positive view towards the effects of the communitarian approach to avoid free-riding problems in housing management. In order to heighten the participation rate of homeowners in private housing management, local authorities or other public bodies can try to boost homeowners' sense of community within their residential communities.
Originality/value: This study is the first attempt to empirically investigate the determinants of homeowners' participation in the management of high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 345-356 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Property Management |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Aug 2011 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
The work described in this paper was supported by the Start-up Grant for New Staff from City University of Hong Kong (Project No. 7200123). The previous version of this paper was presented in the European Real Estate Society Conference 2010 in Milan in 2010. The author would like to thank the comments made by the reviewers, moderators and conference delegates. Last but not least, the author feels an immense gratitude to the student helpers in City University of Hong Kong for their assistance offered in the questionnaire survey.Keywords
- Hong Kong
- Housing
- Housing management
- Logistic model
- Modelling
- Resident participation
- Sustainable built environment
