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Chapter 12Household Decision Making

By Michael R. Solomon

Consumer BehaviorBuying, Having, and Being

Sixth Edition

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The Family

• Defining the Modern Family– Extended Family: Consists of three generations living

together and often includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

– Nuclear Family: A mother and a father and one or more children

• Just What Is A Household?– Family Household:

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The Family Life Cycle

• Family Life Cycle (FLC)– Concept that combines trends in income and family

composition with the changes in demands placed upon this income to segment households.

• FLC Models– Focuses on longitudinal changes in priorities which is

valuable in predicting demand for specific product categories over time.

– Four variables are necessary:• (1)• (2)• (3)• (4)

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Family Life Cycle

Figure 12.1

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VIDEO: DDB Worldwide

• DDB Worldwide, as the advertising agency in charge of revamping J.C. Penney’s image, had to address the special challenge of reaching working moms.

Click image to play video.

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The Intimate Corporation:Family Decision Making

• Collective Decision Making– A process in which more than one person is

involved in the purchasing process for products or services to be used by multiple consumers

• Household Decisions– Consensual Purchase Decision:

– Accommodative Purchase Decision:

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Household Conflict

• Conflict: occurs when there is not complete agreement in family members’ needs and preferences.

• Factors determining the degree of family decision conflict:– Interpersonal need:– Product involvement and utility:– Responsibility:– Power:

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• This Kudos advertisement tries to explain that the product will satisfy two members of the household for different reasons.

• What type of family decision have the mother and son made?

Discussion Question

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Group/Family Decision Making

• Decision Roles:– Influencer: influences the purchase decision.– Gatekeeper:– Decider: makes the final decision regarding a

purchase.– Buyer: engages in the actual transaction/ purchase.– Preparer: prepares the purchased goods for use.– User: uses the purchased good(s).– Maintainer: maintains or takes care of the good(s).– Disposer: chooses when and how to dispose of the

good(s).

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Sex Roles and Decision-Making Responsibilities

• Autonomic Decision

• Syncratic Decision

• There is a shift in decision making toward more compromise and turn-taking.

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Identifying the Decision Maker

• Family Financial Officer (FFO):

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Who Buys the Pants?

• Although many men still wear the pants in the family, it’s women who buy them.

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Identifying the Decision Maker

• Four Factors Determine the Degree to Which Decisions will be Made Jointly by One or the Other Spouse

– Sex-role stereotypes:– Spousal resources:– Experience:– Socioeconomic Status:

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Children As Decision Makers:Consumers-In-Training

• Primary Market:

• Influence Market:– Parental Yielding: Occurs when a parental

decision maker is influenced by a child’s request and “surrenders.”

• Future Market:– Kids eventually grow up to be adults.

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Kids’ Influence on Household Purchases

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Family Decision Making

• Children often determine the products and brands they use.

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Consumer Socialization

• Consumer Socialization

• Influence of Parents:– Parents’ influences in consumer socialization

are both direct and indirect.

• Television: “The Electric Babysitter”:– The more children are exposed to television, the

more they will accept images depicted as real.

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Consumer Socialization (cont.)

• Sex Role Socialization:– Children pick up on the concept of gender

identity as early as age one or two.

• Stage of Cognitive Development– The ability to comprehend concepts of

increasing complexity

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Marketing Research and Children

• Product Testing:– A particularly helpful type of research with

children.– Involves watching kids play with toys or

involving them in focus groups

• Message Comprehension:– Children differ in their ability to process product-

related information– Ethical issues must be considered when

directing advertising appeals at children

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Product Testing

• Lego did research to learn how boys and girls play with their building toys.