Investigating the interplay between structure and information and communications technology in the real estate industry

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are reshaping many industries, often by reshaping how information is shared. However, while the effects and uses of ICT are often associated with organizations (and industries), their use occurs at the individual level. To explore the relationships between individual uses of ICT and changes to organization and industry structures, we examined the residential real estate industry. As agents, buyers and sellers increase their uses of ICT, they also change how they approach their daily work. The increasing uses of ICT are simultaneously altering industry structures by subverting some of the realtors’ control over information while also reinforcing the existing contract-based structures. This structurational perspective and our findings help to explain why information intermediaries persist when technology-based perspectives would suggest their disappearance.