Editorial

Clive M.J. Warren (UQ Business School, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia)

Property Management

ISSN: 0263-7472

Article publication date: 16 October 2017

315

Citation

Warren, C.M.J. (2017), "Editorial", Property Management, Vol. 35 No. 5, pp. 470-471. https://doi.org/10.1108/PM-08-2017-0045

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited


This is the fifth and final issue of Property Management for 2017. Over the past year, the journal has increased the number of papers per issue from five to six resulting in 30 fully peer-reviewed research papers being published. This increase has been driven by increasing numbers of papers being submitted to the journal for review together with increasing quality of the research resulting in more papers passing through the peer review process. This demand continues to grow and it is expected that the journal will move to publishing seven articles per issue in 2018. In addition, early next year, the journal will move to a much faster publishing process which will mean that once a paper passes the review process and is accepted for publication, it will appear on the journal website shortly afterwards. This significant enhancement will remove the need to wait for the publication of each issue and result in research being available much earlier and thus be able to be cited all the earlier. I think the authors will agree with me that this is a very positive move and will increase citation rates and perhaps result in a further increase in the number and quality of papers being submitted to Property Management.

Let us now turn to the current issue of Property Management in which once again we present some interesting research papers drawn from across the world and addressing a wide range of subject matter relevant to the property management industry. Once again it is pleasing to see that a number of the papers in this issue originate from or are focussed on property management issues in Africa. It seems that there is a rapidly growing body of research building in this region with increasing numbers of researchers investigating aspects of the property sector across the continent.

The first paper in this issue comes from Timothy Ayodele, Timothy Oladokun and Sunday Oladokun, from Obafemi Awolowo University Nigeria. Their paper is entitled: “Factors influencing real estate students’ academic performance in an emerging economy: gender and socioeconomic perspectives”. The paper explores the extent to which variations in gender, socioeconomic standing and academic background influence real estate students’ academic performance in Nigeria. The paper concludes that there is no statistically significant difference in the academic performance of Nigerian real estate students based on gender and socioeconomic background. This is an interesting and very positive finding for a developing region in which one might expect both gender and economic factors to represent significant constraints to educational opportunities.

The second paper is also from Africa and is written by Christopher Odudu and Patience Iruobe from the University of Benin, Nigeria. The paper examines the issues relating to the quantum of compensation paid after compulsory acquisition of natives communities farmland. The paper title is: “Compensation study of Boboroku, Jesse, Delta State, Nigeria”. The paper highlights the significant difference in compensation received following the compulsory acquisition of farm land depending on the nature of land title. While specific to the land title system in Nigeria, the paper will have implications for other regions where the native title over land and crops exists.

The third paper is written by Tuulia Puustinen, Heidi Falkenbach and Kauko Viitanen from the Aalto University, Finland, together with Kyösti Pennanen and Anne Arvola, from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. Their paper is entitled: “Financing major repairs in apartment buildings through infill development: exploring views and benefit requirements of the owner-occupiers”. The purpose of this paper is to study the views of owner-occupiers concerning infill development as a mechanism for financing major repairs in apartment buildings. Based on a survey of 898 residents, their attitudes towards infill development and the impact that any financial benefit achieved might have on their acceptance of such new development was assessed. The research finds that owner occupiers require significant financial benefits in order to accept infill development but that there are a large number of factors which influence the decision. This is an interesting piece of research and the one that will have implications for apartment managers, planners, policy makers and developers across many regions.

The fourth paper comes from a diverse research collaboration between Francis Bondinuba, from the Heriot-Watt University, UK; Devine Hedidor from Oboadaka Local Authority Junior High School, Ghana; Alex Opoku, University College London, UK and Alfred Teye from Technische Universiteit Delft, the Netherlands. The paper entitled: “De/motivations in housing microfinance delivery in Ghana” examines the delivery of housing microfinance to low-income families within the housing market in Ghana. The research draws on a survey of 125 institutions which provide microfinance to low-income individuals. The findings reflect on what motivates and what demotivates financial institutions to participate in this emerging market.

The fifth paper presents a commentary on the origins and nature of the pop-up retail phenomenon, and examines the development and characteristics of pop-up shops within the UK. This paper is written by Peter Jones and Daphne Comfort from the University of Gloucestershire Business School, UK, together with David Hillier from the University of Glamorgan, UK, and is entitled “A commentary on pop up shops in the UK”. The paper identifies a number of factors which have contributed to this change in retail offerings and highlights issues such as high vacancy rates in traditional high streets together with changing planning regulations.

The final paper is presented by Rotimi Abidoye and Albert Chan from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. Their paper is entitled as: “Artificial neural network in property valuation: application framework and research trend”. The research reports on artificial intelligence models, such as artificial neural network, application in property valuation. The paper critically reviews previous studies that have adopted artificial neural networks for property valuation in order to present an application guide for researchers. This paper presents a useful critical review of the valuation literature in this area and will be of use to researchers exploring the use of these tools.

I trust that you find the research presented in this issue of Property Management interesting and thought provoking. As always I look forward to receiving your research papers for publication in future issues of the journal.

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