Towards Friction-Free Work: A Multi-Method Study of the Use of Information Technology in the Real Estate Industry

信息和通信技术(ICT)在房地产行业中得到了广泛的应用。这项研究考察了该行业的人员和组织如何工作，以及这项工作如何适应信息和通信技术的使用并受到影响。由于房地产经纪人扮演的是交易中介的角色，这一行业受到了转向电子交易以及由此带来的潜在脱媒的影响。由于许多行业正在转向更多以信息/知识为基础的结构，了解信通技术的使用如何改变这一行业，将为其他行业可能发生的潜在变化提供经验证据。这项研究有三个目标：1.描述信息和通信技术的使用如何改变个人知识工作者的工作方式；2.描述与使用信息和通信技术有关的组织和行业变化；3.描述个人工作的变化与组织和产业结构和流程的变化之间的关系。在个人层面，研究人员关注工作设计和社会资本的变化。在组织和行业层面，运用了交易成本和协调理论的思想。

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are used pervasively in the real estate industry. This study examines how people and organizations in this industry work and how this work adapts and is affected by the use of ICT. Since real estate agents act as transactional intermediaries, this industry is affected by a shift to electronic transactions and the potential disintermediation this implies. Since many industries are shifting towards more information/knowledge-based structures, understanding how ICT use is changing this industry will provide empirical evidence about potential changes that might be expected in other industries. The study has three objectives: 1. Describe how the use of ICT changes the ways individual knowledge workers conduct their work; 2. Describe organizational and industrial changes related to the use of ICT; 3. Describe how changes in individual work relate to changes in organizational and industrial structures and processes. At the individual level, the researchers focus on changes in work design and social capital. At the organization and industry levels, ideas from transaction cost and coordination theory are applied.