Study on Significant Mechanisms of Maintenance Culture Among Public Building Users in Malaysia

School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia

^a Corresponding author : azree@usm.my

Abstract

Malaysia, a country in Asia, is a fast-growing developing country in its construction so as to fulfil the demands of today. Many buildings, infrastructures and facilities were constructed; however, the necessary support required after construction was disregarded. Maintenance is the key for the system, and culture is the main point of attitude and behaviour towards the maintenance culture. Becoming one of the first class infrastructures in the world is the vision that Malaysia is striving to achieve, and a third mentality from society and organisations should be avoided. However, to achieve this vision, proper maintenance is not enough; a maintenance culture should be applied. Developing a maintenance culture will help obtain the vision quickly and increase the quality of productivity in maintenance. It will also reduce the repair cost and increase responsibility. Malaysia is becoming a first class infrastructure, which is the vision for today; therefore, it needs to avoid a third mentality. Concerning this matter, decisive components of the maintenance culture were studied to identify the types of components that influence the maintenance culture among public building users. The decisive components of maintenance were uncertainty awareness and responsibility; personality/human behaviour and attitude; mind-set/motivation; training; knowledge and learning process; culture trends; management commitment; management of organisation; leadership; fundamental and policy; operating system organisation; the enforcement; laws and rules; and current practice of maintenance methods.