PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the importance of various reference groups which influence the intention to buy a house for the family living in Thailand. Since a house is a durable asset with a high price compared to earned income of the Thai citizens. Moreover, Thai style living is still more of an extended family. Therefore the decision made on acquiring such asset by a decision maker is normally came from many influences, which may include several generations in a family. methodologyThe study adopted the well known theory of planned behavior (TPB) of Ajzen. A survey was conducted with the selected target group under the condition that a decision maker on home buying, are likely to be influenced by many reference groups. A total of 180 samples was collected through the online questionnaire, placing in the Google Doc.FindingsAnalysis tools are factor analysis and regression analysis. The hypothesized dimensions of influencing groups, subjective norm of TPB, are the decision maker’s spouse, their children, their elderly and friends. Factor analysis supports the 4 dimensions of subjective norm variables: spouse, children, elderly parents and friends. When all influential groups are combined into subjective norm construct together with other two important constructs of TPB which are attitude towards behavior and perceived behavioral control, the linear regression analysis shows that all 3 latent variables statistically influence change in home purchase intention. However, children seem to be the most influential dimension under subjective norm, followed by spouse. While elderly parents and friends reveal less Influence under subjective norm.ImplicationsThis study helps identifying influential groups affecting the intention to purchase a house of working age decision makers where those influences are associated with designing the product to suit consumer buying power. Marketers should take these findings into consideration while designing and implementing their marketing strategies.OriginalityThis paper proposes a concept relating to Thai culture where a family often stays in a large family home. It is believed that the parents will have an influence on the intention to buy a house. However, when the idea of creating your own family comes, the influence of the reference group is evolving. This study divided the influential group into 4 dimensions according to the clarity of educational reference group effects of the subject