Framing ICT usage in the real estate industry

The presence of agency renders real estate unique from other industries where goods and services trade hands. The rise of various information and communication technologies (ICT) over the course of the past 25 years may have led to new challenges for real estate agents and allied professionals. Some scholars surmise that the increased prevalence of ICTs in various industries can become disruptive to those industries, causing individuals and organisations working within them to either adapt accordingly or become obsolete (Bower and Christensen, 1995; Markus et al., 2006). The authors have examined transcripts of interviews with staff of the National Association of REALTORS® to determine whether agents now view ICTs as a threat to their profession, or instead as tools that are generally beneficial to their business. Their findings indicate that a distinction must be made between ICT usage by consumers and ICT usage by the real estate agents themselves. While the interviews lead the authors to believe that the rise of ICTs has been disruptive but generally productive for agents, more research is necessary to determine the precise extent to which agents are using information and communication technologies to enhance their business model.