Exploring the use of collaboration ICT initiatives for vetting prospective

tenants in Zimbabwe’s real estate industry

Introduction
When a property is available for renting one important question that could be asked is who
should move in. However, most importantly, it’s not about who should move in but the who does
not and reasons to that. To be more specific, property managers always seek answers on whether
the prospective tenant will pay rent on time or whether they even have the capacity to be able to
pay the rent. Answers may also be sought on whether the tenant will pose any risk or worries to
other tenant and or the property owner. It is also important to ascertain and be assured that even
property and other assets will also be safe. Effort is made to ensure that the tenant of choice is
the right tenant for the property available for renting. Property managers and owners always have
challenges in their efforts to find answers to these concerns when screening prospective tenant.
Simple reference checks or gut decisions do not provide adequate information to support
decision making. A well guided decision means that the property manager will look beyond the
character and financial statements of the prospective tenant. In this digital era, where individuals
and companies are exposed to vast amounts of data, through the concept of big data, an artificial
intelligent system can provide an answer to the managers’ problems. This research intends to
explore more on the current collaboration initiatives for screening prospective tenants in
Zimbabwe’s real estate industry, challenges and possible ICT initiative to bridge on the gap.

Problem Statement
The most critical step that one can take to protect the most valued rental property is to use a
reputable tenant screening service and review tenant income level as well as, credit, criminal,
and eviction history. It is therefore, much more important to examine the methods and systems
used by property managers to screen and select tenants. A report by Family Housing Fund and
Housing Justice Center (2021), states that property managers typically seek and consider data on
the following criteria when screening tenant-applicants and selecting tenants: 1) income level, 2)
rental history, 3) credit history, and 4) criminal history. The general IT problem this research will
address is that real estate firms are using the artificial intelligent system that lack real estate
tenant screening best practices, thereby, ends up renting properties to errand and troublesome
tenants which ultimately results in losses and lawsuits. The specific IT problem is Zimbabwe’s
real estate firms lack ICT collaboration strategies for vetting prospective tenants.

Purpose of the Study

The practice of screening potential tenants for office or housing rental aspirants through the use
of tenant screening agencies offers benefits to both renters, property managers as well as
property owners. However, there is usually some outcry from the other section of prospective
tenants as well as from most property owners who feel prejudiced by the current tenant screening
practices in Zimbabwe. The concern is centred on mainly two issues, that is, inadequacy of
information provided by the bureaux to property agencies as well as information synchronization
gap. Concerns raised by tenant advocates, and echoed in recent lawsuits in Harare, point to the
presence of misleading or inaccurate information within tenant screening reports. This is a
relevant concern, given that the information contained in tenant screening reports is likely an
integral piece in the rental decision-making process. Technology is ever-changing and has
transformed the face of industries as well as that of life in general. Among several other factors
pushing companies to invest in ICT, improved decision making in all aspects of management is
one of the key drivers. The real estate industry was never spared by the effects of ICT and data
driven decisions. This research therefore, focuses more on ICT based strategies for development
of effective tenant screening system for Zimbabwe’s real estate sector through collaborative
information sharing amongst key stakeholders.

Nature of Study
The three (3) common methodologies used for conducting a scientific inquiry are qualitative,
quantitative and mixed methods. In order to satisfy the objectives of this research, a mixed
research will be used. The major reason for choosing the methodology is that it offers a complete
description and analysis of a research subject, without limiting the scope of the research and the
nature of participant’s responses (Collis & Hussey, 2003). However, the effectiveness of
qualitative research is heavily based on the skills and abilities of researchers. In some instances,
outcomes may not be perceived as reliable, because they mostly come from researcher’s personal
judgments and interpretations. The method of choice is more appropriate for small samples, it is
therefore risky for the results of qualitative research to be perceived as reflecting the opinions of
a wider population (Bell, 2005).

According to Creswell (2015), qualitative research is a means for exploring and understanding
the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem. He further explains that
qualitative research “involves emerging questions and procedures, data typically collected in the
participant’s setting, data analysis inductively building from particulars to general themes and
the researcher making interpretations of the meaning of data”. The choice for this research
design was mainly influenced by the research problem which needs an exploratory approach to
find a solution. Qualitative approach was also appropriate as it is applicable in this situation
where the specific variables to be studied were unknown to the researcher. These variables had to
emerge as the study proceeded.

Through the qualitative research approach, the study will be able to obtain views, opinions and
experiences on information sharing, integration and collaboration in real estate sector in
Zimbabwe. The researcher will also gain a comprehensive understanding on the methods of
sharing information currently being used among various stakeholder within the real estate sector
as well as the current challenges they face.

Research Question
Main Research Questions
Which ICT collaboration strategies are real estate firms in Zimbabwe using for screening
prospective tenants?

Sub-research Questions
a) How are the estate agencies in Zimbabwe sharing information?
b) What kind of information is currently being shared by estate agencies?
c) Is the information being shared enough for decision making on whether to accept or
reject an application from a prospective tenant?
 d) What role can ICTs play in information sharing, integration and collaboration in the
property management industry?
e) To what extent is the shared information useful for decision making?
f) What bad record is considered valid and useful for decision making?
g) How can Information Communication Technologies be used to improve information
sharing, integration and collaboration in the real estate sector in Zimbabwe?

Limitations
Just like any other research, this study will have a specific scope. This section presents an outline
of the limitations of this study. The study's major drawback is the research method picked which
is wholly qualitative research. It is necessary that a quantitative assessment be also conducted for
the proposed framework. This can support in increasing the framework's meticulousness. The
other limitation is that the target population was limited to Harare, which is the researcher's home
area. To start with, it will not be feasible to draw data from across the country due to time,
covid19 restrictions, human and financial resources. This obviously will have implications on the
quality and depth of primary data collected. ICT applications, experiences and utilization tend to
differ from province to province.

Delimitations
This study will have its own scope which will be both geographical and methodological. In terms
of the geographical delimitation, the study will cover Zimbabwe’s urban space. Sample data will
be collected in the towns and cities like Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kwekwe, Mutare, Masvingo,
Kariba, Kadoma among others, since this is where the issue of property management and leasing
is concentrated. There are no real estate agents in Zimbabwe’s rural space. Harare is also the
nucleus of Zimbabwe where most initiatives originated before spreading throughout the country.
Collecting data from this city will also have some positive implications on the quality and depth
of primary data collected. Most Zimbabwean companies have their headquarters in Harare, this
will consequently mean in those cases Harare companies will present crucial sample data. In
terms of methodology, the researcher will use several methods to gather data and these will
include observation (passive and active), experimental, simulation and compiled (derived) data.
The reason for this is to gather enough and high quality data so as to come up with
comprehensive findings.

Conceptual Framework
As McGaghie et al. (2001) put it: The conceptual framework sets the stage. It presents the
research question thus drives the investigation being reported based on the problem statement. A
favorable environment for data sharing requires shared and commonly understood processes for
data management, offering clear guidance on the necessary steps supporting good practice
(Protection Information Management (PIM), 2017). (PIM 2017) proposed the following
framework for data sharing to which the researcher adopted for data sharing in the real estate
management industry.

Proposed conceptual framework

Source PIM (2017)

The conceptual framework is based on the four main pillars; assess information landscape,
design information management systems, implement information management systems and
evaluate impact. These pillars are supported by sub-pillars as indicated in the previous diagram.
  Assess Information landscape: Real estate stakeholders need information to make
guided decisions. This information should be derived from different sources. It is
therefore important to identify who is supposed to provide what and how. An assessment
will be made on the purpose of data and information to be collected.
 Design information management systems: The criteria property managers use for
choosing tenants can range from undefined decisions about a candidate's desirability to
formal admission approaches that evaluate applicants across a wide spectrum of factors
(Eric Dunn & Marina Grabchuk, 2019). Real estate stakeholders have distinctive
information needs and these normally result in different types of associations and
different methods of sharing information.
 Implement information management systems: Advances in ICT continue to
revolutionarise the real estate business processes. The researcher will identify different
technologies and the roles they play in information collection, storage, dissemination and
sharing.
 Evaluate impact: In this digital era, the success of a collaborative network is very much
dependent on a number of factors. Use of ICT for information sharing comes with its own
risks to organizations (Microsoft, 2015).

Significance of the study

This research calls for a clear development of efficient and effective tenant screening systems in
Zimbabwe. ICT has revolutionised the way business is conducted worldwide and several
opportunities have been opened. It is highly likely that the adoption of ICT in major areas of the
economy is going to increase through the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1) which is
advocating for improved data oriented communications and cheaper bandwidth. The major focus
of this study is to establish how ICTs can be used in the property industry to improve
cooperation and information sharing. It should not be by luck, chance or good guess, but all
about well-informed or guided decision making. The quality of decisions made is relative to the
quality of information at hand. It is the quality and not the quantity of information that matters.
Valuable information is supposed to meet these characteristics: accurate, accessible, simple,
complete, economical, relevant, reliable, flexible, secure, timely and verifiable.
For this researcher, the interest around the issues of tenant screening rose when he was working
for TransUnion Zimbabwe (Formerly Dun n Bradstreet) which was the biggest credit bureau in
Zimbabwe. The researcher worked as an IT officer and later as Head of IT and Product
Development. The experience and level of knowledge in the collection, storage and
dissemination of data as well as report generation helped him identify the gap in this special field
that needs to be closed. The researcher's expertise is not only limited to literature review but
supported with a vast practical experience.