Abstract:
Town houses or cluster homes refer to housing developments where the exterior fac¸ade
of adjacent units are architecturally identical or very similar. A pertinent disadvantage
of this type of tenure is that residents are not allowed to alter the exterior of their homes
to reflect personal differences. This study focussed on the probability that residents in
these type of townhouses would make intentional effort to demonstrate their uniqueness
through counter-conforming choice of interior objects for the social areas of their
homes where guests are received and entertained. The study involved 182 respondents
who lived in townhouses in a major urban area in South Africa who were recruited
through convenient snowball sampling. Findings indicate that townhouse residents’
interior product decisions are predominantly of a creative counter conformity nature
which is the safer alternative than avoidance of similarity or unpopular choice counterconformity
practices that might evoke criticism from peers or reference groups. Interior
product choices are therefore predominantly cautious and aimed to evoke the
admiration of others rather than critique. A positive outcome of this study in terms of
future research is confirmation of the usefulness of the measuring instrument, which
was originally developed for clothing research. Findings are insightful for property
developers, interior designers, interior decorators and retailers in terms of consumer
facilitation and the appropriate marketing of interior products.
