A framework to predict the willingness and influencing factors of building occupants to interact with advanced control systems in buildings

Advanced control systems such as human-centered control, enable the balance between high automation levels and occupant control access, by enabling occupants to interact with the controllers by reporting their perceived comfort levels. However, it is challenging to determine the predisposition of occupants to interact with such systems and the driving factors behind that interaction. Thus, in this novel interdisciplinary research, the influencing factors that drive occupants to interact with advanced controllers are investigated, including user trust and user preferences, and a framework is proposed to determine the willingness of occupants to interact with such controllers by sharing comfort-related data. This survey-based study presents an extension of a behavioral science framework called the Theory of Planned Behaviour, and the data are analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling with Smart PLS software. The results show that the willingness of occupants to interact with human-centered controllers can be predicted with an explained variance of R2 = 59.6%, which is a good value for behavioral sciences considering the complex and diverse nature of human behaviour. Furthermore, the results show that occupants' attitudes and beliefs, the perceived ability to report feedback, social impact, and user trust are the main driving factors, while user preferences indirectly impact their willingness to interact. These findings provide important insights for developers and practitioners to focus on what is important to building users to achieve higher engagement rates for human-centered control.