Adoption and willingness to use property management software among real estate tech start-ups in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

PurposeTechnological disruption has transformed the traditional ways of doing business in the real estate sectors. As a result of the new business realities, technology has become an integral part of the real estate business. However, due to the significant barrier to the incorporation of the technology among modern real estate start-ups, there is a need to assess the adoption and willingness to use property management software.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed an exploratory research design. The study adopts a total enumeration of real estate start-up firms in Lagos, Nigeria, to ensure true representations among the respondents and reduce sampling errors. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.FindingsThe study revealed that the majority of the respondents are aware of the identified property management software but tenant verification software recorded the highest level of awareness and usage. The finding also revealed that the association between the availability of staff competence, practicality of the software, ease of use, data ownership and copyright, financial resources, future-proof technology track, Internet connection, perceived benefits and productivity and branding are statistically significant in influencing the level of adoption among the respondents.Research limitations/implicationsThe researchers had initial challenges with the attitude of respondents to willingness and timely disbursement of information which was later resolved by explaining the significance for the study. The findings of the research will be useful and serve as an eye opener to practitioners, the conventional real estate surveying and valuation firms, to relevance of software technology in enhancing their operations and efficiency, while it can also boost the academic curriculum.Practical implicationsThe knowledge about the adoption of property management software will equip real estate tech start-ups with the right information.Originality/valueThe paper is significant because the ultimate goal of this study is to document the empirical investigation on the level of adoption and application of emerging software among real estate tech start-ups in the Nigerian property market to facilitate the efficiency and delivery of property management services.