Track: Human Factors and Ergonomics

Abstract

The chair has become a fundamental workstation for students around the world. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causal relationship between chair dimensions, anthropometric measurements, and subjective comfort by utilizing Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach. 52 senior high school students were recruited to evaluate three fixed-type chairs and the anthropometric data were measured. In addition, they were asked to fill the subjective comfort questionnaire and rate the chair by utilizing pairwise comparison. SEM revealed that chair dimension was found to have a significant on effect on subjective comfort. In addition, anthropometric latent variable was also found to have a significant positive effect on subjective comfort. Regarding the indicators, backrest height of the chair dimension was found to be a significant predictor for subjective comfort. Finally, stature height, eye height, shoulder height, and elbow height of the anthropometric dimensions were found to be significant predictors for subjective comfort. This study is one of the first studies that investigated the causal relationships among chair dimensions, anthropometric measurements, and subjective comfort simultaneously. The results would be very beneficial for academicians, human factors engineers, and even chair manufacturers particularly related to designing a good fixed-type chair.