Usage of Technological Facilities in Service Sector Firms and Floor Space per Employee: Evidence from Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper presents new empirical evidence about the determinants of space per employee in office sector firms in Hong Kong. The paper hypothesises that usage of technological equipment and facilities lead to increase the space per employee ratio, apart from other factors identified in literature. The above hypothesis was tested through a regression model and an ANOVA analysis based on a sample survey of FIRE and business service sector firms in Hong Kong. The growth in the use of technological equipment and facilities exert a strong positive influence on space usage per employee. In Hong Kong, significant differences in the floor space per employee ratio are seen across different firms: financial and business service sector firms use relatively larger amounts of floor-space per employee compared to all other sub sectors. The overall explanatory power of the regression model was somewhat limited; this indicates that factors related to business organisation and work patterns, land supply and building densities, construction productivity and cost, and other location related factors, should also be studied in order to understand overall trends in space usage per employee.