Decision-making process towards real estate agents, landlords, and expatriate tenants’ criteria with perspective from principal-agent theory
Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University, Bangkok
How they used Delve
A researcher at Thammasat University used Delve to run an inductive content analysis of in-depth interviews with 30 Bangkok real estate agents, theming and coding how they reconcile what landlords want with what expatriate tenants will accept.
“Finally, the Delve qualitative data analysis tool was applied with inductive content analysis through theming and coding techniques.”
- Field
- Real estate and services management; how rental agents reconcile landlords' and expatriate tenants' criteria, read through principal-agent theory
- Data
- Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 30 agents actively working in real estate agencies whose target market is foreign tenants
- Approach
- Inductive content analysis through theming and coding in Delve, as the last of five steps taken to secure trustworthiness. Triangulation came from deliberately sampling across agent characteristics - company size, targeted customer location and segmentation, and the agents' own gender and age - so that no single agent profile drove the interpretation.
- Data types
- Interviews
Abstract
This study aims to analyse the details of the stages in the decision-making process of real estate agents to reconcile the landlords and expatriate tenants’ criteria and to explain these relationships with the principal-agent theory. Using a qualitative approach, the research engaged in semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 30 agents actively working in real estate agencies with foreign tenants as their target market. The findings of this research showed significant results about the unique reasons and criteria regarding the decision-making processes of each party. Additionally, it also highlighted the strategies used in addressing the various needs of these parties. These strategies included having a variety of property options available, skillfully using effective techniques such as matching, probing, and translating during communication, making trade-offs between factors, and employing effective negotiation methods. From a theoretical standpoint, the study discussed several significant aspects. These included examining power imbalances and negotiation dynamics, maximising the principal’s interests, addressing situations where there are double principals involved, and considering contextual factors that sometimes contradict the assumptions of the principal-agent theory.
Citation
Niti Rattanaprichavej (2023). Decision-making process towards real estate agents, landlords, and expatriate tenants’ criteria with perspective from principal-agent theory. Cogent Business & Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2288692