The anchor paper

Nurul Hiqmah binti Nordin

Justification : The one qualitative paper that caught my eyes and I wish
to give supplementation to it. Let’s go!
•Nadeau, J., Wardley, L., Dorohoi, A. (2019),
“Justice motivation theory in sustainable
home purchases”, International Journal of
Housing Markets and Analysis, Vol. 13 No. 5,
pp. 809-823.
 Research Question

Does justice motivation help to explain

purchase behaviour for sustainable housing?
Is there a perceived injustice?
Is the buyers’ response about justice?
Is there deliberation & the opportunity for public scrutiny?
Why sustainable home?
• Canada building codes are currently being revised to avoid
“infrastructure failures linked to climate change that could cost
Canada $300 billion over the nest decade (Arsenault, 2019). – Acute
infrastructure failure during catastrophic events.
• Canada implementing proactive environmental sustainability
measures.
• Awareness on climate change, makes environmental concerns and
moral obligations as important considerations in green residential
purchases (Tan & Goh, 2018)
Theory framework

Justice Motivation
Why justice motivation theory?
• Represent a drive to restore balance in unjust situations (Batson et al.,
2007).
• Housing context – environmental justice (Bhatti & Dixon, 2003), the
social implication of gentrification (Marcuse, 2015).
• Justice as the joint of buyer motivation & environmental sustainability
– no research. Broad understanding to sustainability in housing
important to support low carbon agenda ( Reid & Houston, 2013)
• Justice – the notion of fairness and a situation perceived as unfair can motivate an
individual to act in a way that promotes even if the action provide a disservice to
themselves (Blader & Tyler, 2002)
• Learner & Meindl (1981) established Justice as a motivator of behaviour. Described
as innate urge (Sautter et.al., 2007)
• Recent study – applied consumer setting of voluntourism - positioned justice
motivation as cognitive-base process together with emotionally based altruism
(Nadeau & Lord, 2017).
• Fit high involvement real estate purchase situation.
• Tan & Goh (2018) found moral obligation & environmental concern factor
influencing sustainable housing purchase. – Justice motivation theory can help
explain how these motivation works in decision making process.
How to identify justice?
• Clear identification of the injustice - discomfort about the actions of
others can draw reactions against the perceived offenders and further
increasing motivation to restore fairness and justice through
compensation or punishment. This motivation to uphold the moral
standard is attached to an individual’s view of in-group or collective
identity they hold and whether their interests have been transgressed
(Batson et. al., 2007)
• Relevant to real estate because consumers may view homes as
requiring significant resources that are not sustainable for the
environment.
How to identify justice?
• Justice response – following through one’s belief in a moral standard.
• Perception of fit with an in-group (sustainability = green consumer)-
activate internal motivation to consider the options when making a
significant purchase & perceived peer influences - expect sustainable
feature in demand.
How to identify justice?
• Deliberation and the potential of public scrutiny – if goal to uphold
moral integrity rather than extra pay for sustainability, no significant
barrier to buy. Moral principle leads to behaviour.

• ELM – reflect central route; high involvement

real estate purchase & distinct from emotional
based altruism motive.
• Deliberation visible enough to welcome public
scrutiny – people outside family have
influential role in home-buying decision
making (Levy et. al., 2008)
• In-group member (influencers).
Egoistic Motive (Batson, 2011)
• Appear moral while, avoid the cost of being moral - motivation more
complex & behaviour maybe guided by multiple motivations.
• Still important to make sure if justice motivation operates in some
samples in home purchase decision making. - RQ
 Method - QUALITATIVE

Thematic analysis of in-depth interviews.

 Find out something about
people’s views, opinions,
knowledge, experiences or
values from a set of qualitative
data.
To answer RQ, data will be
collected from sample & analyse.
Flexible, but prone to missing
nuances.
Subjective & rely on researcher’s
judgement.
This study – deductive & latent.
read more
 Sample / Respondent

14 interviews with realtors and residential

buyers in three (Toronto, Ottawa, North Bay)
different Ontario cities
(Canada case study)
• Respondents contacted – based on personal network & internet
search.
• Snowball technique after interviewing realtors = refer client
• Participant characteristics – 7 buyers (recently purchase & active
potential buyers) & 7 realtors (fulltime)
 Finding
Is the any evidence to suggest that justice motivation theory
is operating for buyers?
Remember 3 essential condition; clear identification of injustice,
justice response & there is deliberation & potential of public
scrutiny (Batson, 2002).
A clear perception that injustice exist
• To activate justice motivation theory – samples indicated unfair situation in regards
sustainability option in real estate markets (identify underlying issues among
government, banks & builders (important actor to sustainability initiatives)).
• Government - value of subsidies in supporting sustainability; there should be
significant rebates, tax-savings, cost-savings to consumer. – fostering unfair
situation; policies promote sustainable housing but grants-based program builders
no cert & don’t install things properly. – Confusion in policies; ures formaldehyde
insulation case. - poor preparation around communication of new materials. -
leadership gap at the municipal level - not reliable with their support shifting to
other political priorities
Remember 3 essential condition; clear identification of injustice,
justice response & there is deliberation & potential of public
scrutiny (Batson, 2002).
A clear perception that injustice exist
• Bankers – sustainable features often increase cost of property. Higher cost fuel
unjust situation for buyers. - the materialization of bank support for new
sustainable housing projects; if can make money they will fund. sustainable not
popular, no market. - Market value issues; built house with sustainability features,
get value like traditional housing.
• Builders - misuse of the sustainability concept in various advertising campaigns;
no skill to implement sustainable techs. – do poor job in installing sustainable
features; didn’t monitor installer closely.
Remember 3 essential condition; clear identification of injustice, justice
response & there is deliberation & potential of public scrutiny (Batson,
2002).
Is the buyer's response about justice?
• Rectifying the unfair situation, specifically, that buyers consider sustainability in the
decision-making process for the home purchase = buyers consider sustainability in
terms of house price
• Reason into sustainability : one is the conservation of the environment through less use
of energy, and two is the cost that I would be saving anyway
• Barrier despite desire – upfront costs.
• Financial problems – budget conscious, not able to pay. however, financial impact
overtime can overcome the barrier.
• Distance to work – sustainable aspect (walking & biking)
• Development that encouraged a sustainable lifestyle – car sharing, bicycle like tryke.
Remember 3 essential condition; clear identification of injustice,
justice response & there is deliberation & potential of public
scrutiny (Batson, 2002).
Is there evidence of deliberation and opportunity for public
scrutiny?
• Consumers are engaging in cognitive elaboration for the motivation to be at work.
• The importance of cognition reflects the nature of justice motivation where
deliberation is a required component. However, there continue to be challenges
for consumers to engage in deliberation about sustainability features because there
may not be enough information, or the information may be too complex.
• The return is always long and far away, or is not easily enough measurable.
Remember 3 essential condition; clear identification of injustice,
justice response & there is deliberation & potential of public
scrutiny (Batson, 2002).
Is there evidence of deliberation and opportunity for public
scrutiny?
• The opportunity for public scrutiny - The significant social context of a home
buyer was mentioned in terms of the public scrutiny of their decision and
sustainability aspects.
• Other buyers are important because it may assist in liquidating their home
investment – visible sustainability.
• one’s sustainable choice impact others in society; 5-10 years show example,
monkey see, monkey do.
 Is the any evidence to suggest that justice motivation theory is operating for buyers?
In summary, the three conditions of justice motivation are met with the analysis showing a clear identification of an injustice, a response that is about justice along with deliberation
and the potential of public scrutiny.
Conclusion
• Examined the existing literature on residential sustainability using a
justice motivation frame to understand if the motivation may be
operating for home buyers
• Transcripts provide evidence that the justice motivation is operating in
the context of residential home sustainability.
• Reflected in the three basic requirements articulated by Batson (2002)
for justice motivation theory
• CONTRIBUTION : housing market literature & important implication
to real estate markets.
Theory consistent with Triple-bottom line approach to sustainable
markets (Mulliner et. al., 2016)
• Economic aspect; restoring justice, specifically when considering the
perceived higher prices associated with sustainability features in a
home or the ability to retrofit the features into the home after a
purchase.
• Social aspect; sustainability is reflected in the public scrutiny aspect of
justice motivation because buyers consider visible sustainability
features that can be seen be friends and neighbors.
• Environmental aspect; buyers seek features that are relatively
beneficial for the environment
Therefore, justice motivation and sustainability in the real estate market are a
clear fit with one another and marketers need to clearly acknowledge these
aspects in communications and planning for the sale of a residential property.
• Challenges for buyers to satisfy justice motivation theory – green
premium & affordability, financing impact, labor training, risk &
liability.
• Suggestion – regulatory enforcement; builders ‘greenwashing’.
Marketing communication; seller should articulate functional
explanations of features. Sellers should highlight visible sustainability
features as a priority in marketing communications
Future Research
• This research was conducted in the Canadian context and other markets with
different cultural backgrounds may lead to different results. Application on
different country is needed to explore potential cultural differences in the
applicability of justice motivation and sustainability in the real estate market.
• Should include multiple perspectives beyond buyers and realtors, other actors
in the industry, such as bankers, developers, constructors, architects and
policy regulators (provincial and federal), can deepen our understanding of
the challenges and recognition of the justice motivation in home buying.
• Explore justice motivation more – argument example (environmental housing
can displace low-income households, which may impact how buyers evaluate
a home purchase from a justice motivation perspective (Rice, et. al., 2019))