Family Purchase Decision Making: A Conceptual Framework

A family or household is considered to be the basic decision making unit regarding purchases. It is so regarded because the interaction among family members and the influence on one another is likely to be more than those within social but non- family groups such as friends or colleagues. The decision to purchase a product or service by family depends on various roles played by the members in the purchase and consumption of such product and/or service. The stages in the decision making process are usually linked to the decision making roles played by family members. The number, identity and degree of influence of the family members who perform these roles differ from family to family and from product to product. In some situations, a single family member will alone assume a number of roles, while in others, a single role may be jointly played by two or more members. The family decision making has been conventionally categorized as husband dominant, wife dominant or joint and autonomous. However, of late, children have started exerting a considerable influence on family purchase decisions, thus giving rise to a new category of family decision making that is “Child Dominant”. The children in the contemporary times have more autonomy and decision making power which is an indication that if adults are living in a consumerist society, the kids are not far behind from being a pester power to direct consumption. Accordingly, marketers are targeting the consumers by using children not only in case of products meant for them but also for the non-children products. The paper aims to bring out the dynamics of this changing pattern of family purchase decision making and highlights the role that children have lately assumed in the decision making process