Impact of Misleading/False Advertisement on Consumer Behavior in Real Estate Industry

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of misleading/false advertisement on consumer behavior in real estate industry of Pakistan. This study has used misleading/false advertisement as an independent variable. Word of mouth is used as a mediator. Meanwhile, consumer buying behavior is used as the dependent variable. However, real estate industry of Pakistan is the sector chosen to investigate the relationship between variables mentioned above. Quantitative research method is used, as primary data is collected through adoptive structured questionnaire based on 5-Likert scale. The responses are recorded from 300 respondents (consumers associated with real estate industry of Pakistan) through convenience sampling technique. Responses recorded are analyzed through statistical tests (such as correlation, regression, and mediation analysis) by using SPSS Software. The results indicate that misleading/false advertisement and word of mouth has positive impact on consumer buying behavior in real estate industry of Pakistan. In addition, results also indicate that misleading/false advertisement positively impacts word of mouth in real estate industry of Pakistan. Finally, mediation analysis has proved the significant mediating effect of word of mouth in relationship between misleading/false advertisement and consumer buying behavior in real estate industry of Pakistan.