Identifying improvements priorities in daycare centre space performance from teachers' perspectives: application of importance–performance analysis and structural equation modelling

Abstract

Purpose: Though daycare centres are built to facilitate children's social and physical growth, divergent stakeholder perceptions yield conflicts while managing risks for each space due to the minimal guidelines in the Republic of Korea. Due to the unclearly defined knowledge and experience gap between representative stakeholders, teachers have difficulties in operating it with high satisfaction. This study therefore was conducted to systematically identify which parts of performance should be increased to preferentially increase end-user satisfaction in limited resources. Design/methodology/approach: This research conducted quantitative analysis gradually. Importance–performance analysis (IPA) grasped the perceptions of construction practitioners and end-users after identifying space composition and representative risks of daycare centres. Based on the factors influencing perception differences, principal component analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) were conducted to determine which space improves the performance preferentially to increase overall end-user satisfaction. Findings: As the utilisation of indoor spaces increases after COVID-19, improvement of indoor spaces except for indoor playroom is necessary, especially, advancement of the quality of teachers' rooms. Practical implications: Outputs by reflecting the end-user experiences support to understand which spaces are managed from the limited resources. Originality/value: Theoretical framework for daycare centre was established in Korea where guidelines were insufficient, and differences in perception of each risk of stakeholders were identified. Moreover, gradual statistical analysis was set to construct end-user-focused centres by extracting where the performance of space should be improved in prior.