Brand anthropomorphism’s impact on real estate purchase decisions of young buyers in India and the underlying reliance on spatial memory

Abstract

Purpose

Assessing anthropomorphic tendency in relation to real estate purchase decisions and analysing the elements of friendliness, aggressiveness, pleasure and arousal as a link to the spatial memory of the consumer. This study aims to help brands and advertisers in the real estate industry to create meaningful consumer relationships by using elements that are associated with positive spatial experience. By formulating a detailed questionnaire with adapted variables from proven research and a multilayered approach of theoretic and practical analysis, this paper situates the identified variables in the plane of space and customer experience.

Design/methodology/approach

By using structural equation modeling, this study analyses a sample data of 411 consumers and their response to elements of housing.

Findings

The findings of this study showed that variables of friendliness, aggressiveness, pleasure and arousal significantly impact consumer’s real estate purchase decision; however, anthropomorphic tendency does not have a significant impact. Through theoretical analysis, it was found that spatial memory may have a role in the visual and display of the variables.

Originality/value

The merit of this paper lies in the discussion it has raised with regard to the intersection between theoretics of space and the chosen variables. In the field of business and management, often philosophical implications of spatiality may not be actively associated with numerical computation. This paper not only looks at brand anthropomorphism’s impact on real estate purchase decisions but also looks at friendliness and other mentioned variables as significantly impacting purchase decisions and linked to memory, space and affiliation.

Citation

Rodrigues, A., Godwin, B.J. and George, J.P. (2023), "Brand anthropomorphism’s impact on real estate purchase decisions of young buyers in India and the underlying reliance on spatial memory", International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHMA-12-2022-0178