Property specific criteria for office occupation by tenants of purpose built office buildings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify the important property specific criteria for office occupation decision making by tenants of purpose built office buildings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It attempts to provide more definitive information on office space occupation to prospective property marketers, managers, owners and investors. Design/methodology/approach - A questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the important criteria which were earlier selected by expert panels. The outcome was then analysed through the principal component analysis and importance factor index adopted from an earlier study. The findings from the survey can then be used to examine the relative importance of the identified criteria through the use of a multi criteria decision making (MCDM) technique. Findings - Four main criteria could be identified under the property specific criteria. Six of the "building features, services and management" attributes have higher rankings than the attributes under the "financial" considerations, mainly rent. the high rank attributes under the main criteria of "location" relate to the prestige and accessibility of the building while the high rank criteria under the main "lease" criteria relate to the monetary considerations of the lease arrangement. The high rank criteria under the main criteria of "building features, services and management" relate to the management and building services rather than the design/space provision. Research limitations/implications - The study area is confined to Kuala Lumpur city centre commercial area and covers prime office buildings. Originality/value - Office occupation studies have been established in developed countries but are very limited in Malaysia. This study attempts to relate to the current office market developments and to seek the preferences of the various categories of tenants at a later stage.