Reducing risks of aging buildings : the impact of citizenship on building management and maintenance in Hong Kong

Abstract

Taking a look at building management in Hong Kong, it is observed that some Owners’ Corporations (OC) initiate maintenance before orders are received from the Government, others do not. This illustrates that OCs of buildings have different perceptions of risks and are responding to these risks in their own ways - some actively considering and prioritising stakeholders’ safety and interests, yet others may not. OCs that implement self-initiated building maintenance work before receiving any statutory order may have certain attributes lacking in those that implement building maintenance only after receiving Government orders that may be subject to penalty.

Similarly, some Owners are willing to contribute their personal time and effort for collective good. They pay attention to building management and maintenance; some even become executive members of OCs. It is assumed that Owners willing to spare their own time to take part in OC work and be committee members with no formal reward, may hold characteristics different from those of other Owners. It is proposed that these characteristics are General Citizenship, "Organizational Citizenship Behavior" (OCB) and "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR), and these factors may show value disparity amongst different Owners and OCs.

If every OC holds a considerable level of citizenship and tries to learn the lesson by observing risk events, the Government can save cost from the need to deploy additional resources to promote and monitor maintenance work on private buildings. This thesis therefore aims to identify the differences between OCs and other Owners in building management and maintenance, as well as the impact of citizenship on building management and maintenance, with reference to the Social Learning Theory proposed by Bandura.

Both qualitative and quantitative findings supported the objectives and hypotheses of this study. Independent sample t-test confirmed that OC members demonstrate high levels of General Citizenship, OCB and CSR than other Owners. Multiple regression model indicated that 43.2 per cent of the variation in OCs in taking initiative to maintain their buildings may be explained by four explanatory variables, namely CSR, OCB, Group Cohesiveness and General Citizenship.

The implications of this study suggested that in addition to the direct impact of citizenship on building maintenance, citizenship may spillover from one form to another in the context of building management, and the transformation is mediated by the organizational context and other situational factors. This study concludes that in order to achieve a stronger effect of citizenship in different settings, further improvement is required in the political system and in education to cultivate a more complete sense of citizenship for citizens of Hong Kong.

In addition, future study shall be extended to explore the impact of citizenship on OC decisions on other aspects of building management, including community and estate activities, facilities, security and cleansing, as well as planning and budgeting. Further research and testing can be conducted to develop a more robust conceptual framework, including the mediating effects among the manifestation of citizenship and its impact on building management and maintenance.