Family decision at the turn of the century: has the changing structure of households impacted the family decision‐making process?

Abstract

Evaluation of husbands' and wives' influence in family decision making is heavily reliant on studies conducted in the 1970s and 1980s. Since that time, profound changes have occurred in the American family. These changes may have affected the nature of decision making in the household. To examine the degree to which earlier findings are still generalisable today, hypotheses are developed and tested with a contemporary sample of 458 men and women. Results suggest that there have been significant changes in the roles assumed in the family decision-making process, with the wife gaining more influence in all decision areas. The results indicate that marketers must re-examine their marketing strategies for some products and/or services. Possible theoretical explanations are suggested to explain why these changes may have occurred.

Normative Beliefs about Money in Families: Balancing Togetherness, Autonomy, and Equality

“…For instance, higher-earning individuals in couples-overwhelmingly men-tend to have the last word about family financial decisions and more often spend nominally shared money without consulting their partners (Burgoyne et al, 2006). As the difference in men's and women's incomes has diminished, women have gained influence in family decision making and increased control of family money (Belch & Willis, 2002;Kenney, 2006). In accord with the ostensibly gender-neutral nature of exchange theory, attending to the interests of the higher earner might result in support for either men's or women's greater entitlement to economic autonomy when they are the higher earner.…”

A Conceptual Framework of the Adoption and Practice of Environmental Actions in Households

“…Numerous studies within the HDM literature have characterised the need recognition, information search and final decision stages of the decision making process as autonomic (one individual has dominant influence in a specialised role) through to syncratic (individuals have equal influence in a shared role), e.g., Belch et al [27], Belch and Willis [28], Martínez and Polo [29]. However, Kirchler et al's [30] broader characterisation of the final decision also incorporates indirect influence.…”

Adolescent Influence on Family Purchasing Decisions: Research in Turkey

“…Wilkes (1975) divided it into the four stages of identifying the problem, obtaining information and assessing the alternatives, decision-making and purchasing, consumption and assessment, and transition to the next purchasing process. Belch and Willis (2002) determined the three stages of the emergence of the idea of purchasing, the gathering of information and assessing of alternatives, and making the purchasing decision. In this study, as it suits the aim of the research, the family purchasing decision process is considered to occur in the three stages of determining the need, researching and assessing alternatives, and making the purchasing decision.…”

“…Marketing literature (Foxman et al 1989;Belch and Willis, 2002;Shoham and Dalakas, 2005) reveal that there are many product groups of different price levels that cater to different needs and are used by different family members. It was determined that for these product groups, the stages where the adolescent influences the purchasing decision varied.…”