Analytic hierarchy process approach for competitive property management attributes

Purpose - The property service agents (PSAs) are the outsourced agents of Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA), who manage the HKHA's rental properties in a competitive environment. To enhance the competitiveness edges of these PSAs under the inelastic management fee constraint, it is prudent for them to acknowledge those competitive property management attributes upon which PSAs reallocate their limited internal resources to best meet the expectations of the tenants. Design/methodology/approach - Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was adopted for revealing the preference of tenants on those captioned attributes under a ratio scale. The data were collected through face - to - face interviews with the representatives of tenants of housing estates including but not limited to chairmen of Mutual Aid Committees and District Councilors. Findings - The findings indicated that, amongst all competitive property management attributes, tenants of older housing estates preferred a higher level of repairs and maintenance, while those tenants of younger and larger population housing estates focused more on environmental control issues. Practical implications - Without an objective quantitative analysis of tenants' preferences, the PSAs might render misallocation of limited resources, which would not only jeopardize their survival in the competitive commercial world but also upset the expectation of the tenants. Originality/value - The use of quantitative study to solicit the preferences of public housing tenants on property management attributes is the first kind of study which provides comprehensive knowledge of tenants' preferences and could enable PSAs to enhance their competitiveness in the commercial world under the constraints of inelastic management fees structure.