Impact of facilities maintenance on user satisfaction

Purpose This paper aims to focus on how participants link the degree of satisfaction regarding the living conditions and the level of maintenance of facilities. The authors were interested in cross-cultural comparison between Slovenia and Serbia. Design/methodology/approach The main instrument for measuring the participants’ level of satisfaction is a questionnaire formed by the authors. The study of the questionnaire was conducted in two phases. Statistical analysis of the first phase covering factor analysis of the questionnaire and analysis of the reliability of the questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha) in the second phase, descriptive statistics and analysis of variance were used. The study involved 1,006 Slovenian and 385 Serbian participants. Data were statistically analyzed by analysis of variance. Findings The results show that the Slovenian and Serbian participants express a statistically significant difference in the degree of satisfaction regarding the level of maintenance of the living environment, namely, with regard to the location of the real estate, the size of housing units, central heating and a sense of social belonging to the neighborhood. The overall picture shows that Slovenian participants have a considerably higher degree of satisfaction regarding the living conditions in the neighborhood and regarding the level of maintaining facilities than Serbian participations. Research limitations/implications These are potential risks of error arising from the use of assumptions, limited sample size and data from the secondary resources. Practical implications The results show that the law must clearly define the obligations of professional managers who will have to hold licenses to manage buildings. The residential community could be put into receivership if it is not organized in compliance with the law until it is regulated. That leads to efficient and streamlined maintenance costs and results in a better-quality living environment where users expect to reflect a higher degree of sense of security, a sense of social belonging to the neighborhood and consequently a higher degree of satisfaction. Social implications In this study, the authors were interested in how the participants link the level of satisfaction with the living conditions and the level of facilities maintenance. In doing so, the authors were also interested in living environment parameters, such as location, size, illumination, noise and old apartments, old neighborhoods, internet access, central heating and a sense of security in the neighborhood, a sense of social belonging and a sense of living environment and suitable economic status. Originality/value The major contributions of this paper are as follows: the law must clearly define the obligations of professional managers who will have to hold a license to manage the building. The adoption of the “Facilities Maintenance Law” helped promote the overall legal and economic climate in the country, which led to the increase of investments in all areas of economic and social life, as well as to a higher level of residential “well-being” (sense of security, sense of social belonging to the neighborhood and consequently a higher level of satisfaction).