Beyond the binary: Deciphering the nexus and nuances of digital marketing on customer purchase behaviour in the residential real estate market of Sydney

The digital technologies have changed how consumers search, compare and purchase products, especially in high involvement markets like real estate. However, existing research offers limited integrated evidence on how digital marketing influences buyer intention and behaviour in high-involvement contexts such as residential real estate within an extended behavioural framework. The present research focuses on the effect of digital marketing on consumer attitudes, trust, satisfaction, and purchase intent on the Sydney residential property market through the Extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (ETPB). The systematic survey on 399 real estate consumers was examined to assess the direct and indirect impacts of digital marketing on consumer behavioural determinants. The study employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), supported by descriptive statistics, reliability and validity testing, and bootstrapping techniques for hypothesis testing. The findings indicate that online marketing has a significant positive impact on attitude, trust and satisfaction, which leads to an increased purchase intention. Attitude and perceived behavioural control also predict intention, and intention and self-efficacy direct actual buyer behaviour. However, subjective norms did not prove to be a significant indicator, and this is because decisions surrounding property in the Australian context are individualistic. By extending the Theory of Planned Behaviour through the inclusion of trust and satisfaction, the study contributes to the digital marketing and consumer behaviour literature by offering a more comprehensive explanation of purchase behaviour in digitally mediated real estate markets. In general, the research is relevant to behavioural theory because it shows the importance of considering trust and satisfaction as the components of the ETPB and offers some useful data to real estate companies engaged in reinforcing digital interaction, credibility, and consumer confidence in the technology-mediated setting.