Townhouse residents' use of interior products in the social zones of their homes as a demonstration of their need for uniqueness

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.