An empirical investigation of home buying behavior in a high-context culture: a strategic marketing-oriented approach

Purpose - The housing/real estate sector is one of the most important sectors in any country. However, existing marketing literature on the home buying behavior and the decision-making process is still in the early stage of development. The purpose of this study is to examine the home buying behavior from the consumers’ perspective in a high-context culture, namely, Kyrgyzstan and its managerial and/or public policy implications to other countries which are at a similar level of socio-economic development as Kyrgyzstan. Design/methodology/approach - Using a questionnaire, data for the study (n= 300) is collected from households in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Personal interviews were used to collect data from the four administrative regions of Bishkek. Findings - Results of this study show that the physical, environmental and financial dimensions of the homes influenced consumers’ home buying intentions. A few statistically significant differences in terms of preferences for the proximity of the property to schools and shopping districts, having public sewer and water connections, and safety characteristics of the neighborhood were found between the first-time homebuyers and the repeat homebuyers. Research limitations/implications - The most important limitation of the study is the use of convenience sampling. Although the sample size is reasonably large, the selection of the responses was done based on using convenience and connections. Representativeness of the results may be limited. Practical implications - Along with the physical, environmental and financial dimensions of the homes, home buying is a high-involvement decision; it is not as much of an emotional purchase but rather a main residence and a good long-term value for Kyrgyz households. Both marketing and social stimuli did not have any statistically significant effect on purchase intentions. Therefore, housing and real estate developers should focus on understanding how their offering meets individual customers’ tangible and intangible expectations and assist them in their highly involved decision-making process. Originality/value - To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to conduct an empirical study to analyze the home buying decisions of Kyrgyz households. This study contributes to marketing literature by filling the existing gaps in understanding various facets of the high-context consumers’ home buying decision-making.