Title: Agent's quest for reputation and referrals from past and present customers as the agent's source of business

Authors: Goitom Tesfom, Dawit Zerom

Addresses: College of Business and Public Administration, Eastern Washington University at Bellevue, 3000 Landerholm Circle CE, Mail stop 101, Bellevue, 98007, WA, USA. ' Department of Information Systems & Decision Sciences, Steven G. Mihaylo College of Business and Economics, P.O. Box 6848, Fullerton, CA 92834-6848, USA

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between real estate agent|s quest for reputation and referrals from past and current customers as the agent|s source of business. The research results suggest that there is a significant strong positive correlation between the agent|s quest for reputation and referrals as the agent|s source of business for the last five years. The research finding has a relevant implication to the real estate industry. The principal-agent relationship in the residential housing market is somewhat paradoxical and fraught with moral-hazard problem created by information asymmetry. The finding in this study could be used as a stepping stone to address the question whether the strong relationship between the real estate agent|s quest for reputation and referrals from past and present customers as the agent|s source of business minimises moral-hazard problem in the agent|s service.

Keywords: reputation; customer referrals; ethics; real estate; estate agents; principal; residential housing market; moral hazard.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSEM.2009.022966

International Journal of Services, Economics and Management, 2009 Vol.1 No.3, pp.250 - 266

Published online: 05 Feb 2009 *

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