Office Workers’ Perceptions of Office Indoor Plant Rental Services

Abstract

Background and objective: With increasing interest in and use of plants indoors, office indoor plant rental services (OIPRS) can provide the proper design, establishment, and maintenance of indoor plants for the office. Methods: This study investigated the current perceptions of OIPRS through a survey of 150 OIPRS users and 150 non-users. Both users and non-users considered aesthetic enhancements and relaxation of the mind as the primary advantages of indoor plants, rather than their physical functional effects. Although both groups of respondents recognized that the disadvantages of indoor plants were few, the OIPRS users considered the disadvantages to be much less than the non-users. Results: The respondents considered that the advantages of OIPRS included the reduced burden of plant management, designs that were suited for the space, various plant experiences, and professional plant care, while they considered expensive rental costs and a required contract period as the disadvantages associated with the service. Regarding the enhancement of OIPRS, respondents preferred indoor plant management by an expert (3.89), and a variety of services with different designs and prices (3.61) were required the most. Respondents also expected that OIPRS should lead to interior improvements (4.16) and enhanced functionality, such as air purification (4.13). Although 62% of the non-users were willing to use OIPRS in the future, 52% of the OIPRS users did not want to reuse the service in the future, suggesting that improvements in the service should be considered to improve perceptions of OIPRS. Conclusion: Overall, this study investigated the current perceptions of OIPRS, and these results provide supporting data to further establish and improve successful indoor plant rental services (IPRS). © 2022 by the Society for People, Plants, and Environment.