KC ’13, Kriegbaum ’24, Ebert ’13 Publish Research in Marketing Journal

In December 2024, business professor Raghabendra KC ’13, business management and communication studies double major Alec Kriegbaum ’24, and Charles Ebert ’13, a marketing professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, published “Chatbots Selling Condos: Generative Artificial Intelligence in Real Estate” in the Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness.

The Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal that publishes thought-provoking, in-depth articles that cover the marketing arena and the interface between marketing and firm competitiveness. The journal accepts only between 13 and 19 percent of submitted research for publication.

In “Chatbots Selling Condos,” the trio discusses the influence of generative artificial intelligence on long-standing practices in the real estate industry through interviews between principal researcher Kriegbaum and real estate professionals. Kriegbaum transcribed each of the 13 interviews to identify common themes and sentiments. Additionally, the paper leveraged a novel methodological approach by independently verifying the researcher-identified themes with ChatGPT analysis in a separate step.

The analysis noted that real estate professionals are aware of AI technology and use it for its efficiency in creating marketing material, but many professionals question the ethics of using AI without verifiable sources and disclosures. Interviewees also discussed the need for human input when using artificial intelligence and the variance in AI adoption within the real estate industry across generations.