Effects of Licensed Real Estate Agents’ Competencies on Trust and Brokerage Performance: Evidence from Customer Perceptions in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam

In a reality where the majority of national assets are concentrated in real estate, licensed real estate agents, who directly engage in transactions and act as intermediaries, have a significant impact on society.Indeed, a frequent occurrence in social controversies surrounding jeonse (lease) fraud is the harm caused to ordinary citizens by the misconduct or negligence of some licensed real estate agents.Despite this socioeconomic importance, research on the job competencies required for licensed real estate agents remains relatively limited.Considering this, this study draws on domestic and international research to identify factors influencing brokerage performance among the competencies of licensed real estate agents and examines the pathways through which these subfactors influence brokerage performance.The research method was a survey conducted on 323 customers with brokerage experience residing in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam.Exploratory factor analysis was used to extract knowledge, skills, attitude, and trust factors, which were then verified through structural equation modeling (SEM).The empirical analysis results showed that knowledge (β = 0.167, p = 0.029), skills (β = 0.364, p = 0.001), and attitude (β = 0.457, p < 0.001), which are sub-factors of competence, all had a significant positive effect on trust.Skills (β = 0.547, p < 0.001) and trust (β = 0.502, p < 0.001) showed a positive effect on brokerage performance.On the other hand, the effects of knowledge (β = -0.149,p = 0.095) and attitude (β = 0.031, p = 0.749) on brokerage performance were not significant.Regarding indirect effects, the paths of technology → trust → brokerage performance and attitude → trust → brokerage performance were significant, while the path of knowledge → trust → brokerage performance was insignificant.Notably, given the repeated empirical findings that knowledge capabilities do not translate into performance in the knowledge information industry, further qualitative and quantitative research is warranted.The limitations of this study and future research directions are as follows.First, this study has regional limitations, as it focused on customers residing in Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province.Future research should expand the spatial scope to increase the generalizability of the findings.Second, extracting latent variables through the use of a wider range of indicators would allow for more