Social Networks and Knowledge Transfer in Real Estate Business in Chiang Mai

Driven by China’s One Belt, One Road initiative, the real estate market in Thailand has attracted much attention from Chinese investors. As intangible knowledge with added value is an important resource in the knowledge economy, real estate agents with this kind of knowledge play an important intermediary role in the real estate market. They use their information advantage to bridge the information gap between potential buyers and sellers in the local real estate market, reduce search costs and improve the match between buyers and sellers. At the same time, knowledge is also transferred among the real estate agents themselves. While sharing knowledge with competitors may seem counter-intuitive, it is important to share knowledge in a market where competitors are each other’s stakeholders. It enables them to have more success with their real estate transactions and help to increase the closing rates in the market as a whole. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify the process by which real estate agents in Chiang Mai transfer knowledge and the factors that influence them to do so by conducting social network analysis to develop a framework for real estate businesses in Chiang Mai to transfer knowledge. This study adopts a mixed research approach, first using social network analysis (SNA) as a quantitative research tool, then conducting open-ended question interviews with experts and key actors as a qualitative research, and finally conducting interviews through the SECI model to design a knowledge transfer framework.