The Moderating Effect of Gender on Self-Image and House Purchase Intention in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Self-image is one of the major consumer behaviour constructs that play a major role in house purchase intention. In this context, moderating impact of gender between self-image and house purchasing intention is uncertain and ambiguous. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of gender moderation on the relationship between self-image and house purchasing intention. The quantitative research method was used for this study. Potential luxury housing buyers in Sri Lanka were used as a population of the study and a structured questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data. The sample size of the study is 100.  Four hypotheses were developed for the study and those hypothesized were analysed using Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis. The findings reveal that actual self-image and house purchase intention have a significant positive relationship and there is no relationship between ideal self-image and house purchase intention. Further, the study failed to support that gender moderates the relationship between self-image (actual and ideal) and house purchasing intention. The present findings of the study will be beneficial for real estate developers, real estate marketers/managers, and academia, relating to the house purchase intention in the luxury housing market.

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Department of Estate Management and Valuation, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

Keywords: Consumer Behaviour, Self-image, Actual Self-image, Ideal self-image, House Purchase Intention, House Buying Behaviour