Instructor Manual Chapter 15

							Chapter 15
HOUSEHOLD AND FAMILY INFLUENCES
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
Families and households make purchase decisions in groups. Just as individual consumers make their way
through a decision cycle, so do groups, starting with problem recognition and leading to final purchase and
evaluation. The challenge for marketers is to identify which member or members of the group influence the
purchase decision at each stage of the cycle.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter students should be able to:
Understand the household as a consumption unit

Recognize family lifecycle influences on consumption patterns

Discuss the roles of household members in the consumer decision process

CHAPTER SPOTLIGHTS
1. The Household Consumption Unit—while the family remains the most pervasive influence on all consumer
behavior, its makeup has changed dramatically over recent decades. Single parents, childless couples, and non-family
households force marketers to rethink the ways in which they target household buyers. In addition, the increase in two-
income families and changing gender roles have transformed the ways household purchase decisions are made and by
whom.
2. Family Lifecycle (Life Stage) Influences—each of these factors affects the ways in which different households spend.
The stage of the members of the household in the family lifecycle—from young singles, to newlyweds, to young couples,
to households with teenagers, to mature couples—dictates the type of purchases made and the kinds of promotions to
which the household is most likely to respond.
3. Roles of Family Members—depending upon such factors as product type, gender-role orientation, and stage in the
decision process, husbands and wives play varying roles in family purchase decisions. Marketers can better support
consumers in making sound product and service selections by understanding which decisions are husband- or wife-
dominant, which are autonomic and which are syncratic. Targeted by television advertising and influenced by peer
pressure among school friends, children frequently exert various levels of influence over family purchase decisions. The
extent of their influence varies according to product type, children’s resources, their age, family communication
environment, and parental style. Understanding how children affect decision making, marketers can target promotions
accordingly. Each household or family member may play no part or one or more roles at each stage of the purchase
decision process. Marketers identify such roles in order to target individual consumers who dominate family or household
purchases.
                                              CHAPTER OUTLINE
15-1 The Household as a Consumption Unit
         While families are changing it still remains the single more significant and enduring influence on all
         consumer behavior as our primary and earliest frame of reference. Families can be the consanguine
         family/family of orientation (the family we are born into), or conjugal family/ family of procreation
         (the family formed by our marriage).

15-1a Composition of Families and Households
      Is any group of individuals living in a dwelling, no matter what the relationships are among people.
15-2                                            Part 4   Sociological Influences on Consumer Decision Making

15-1b 3 important Trends in Family Composition
      1. Lower birthrates have led to smaller families in white families; not the case in Latino and
          African-American families; some religious groups have large families (example: Mormons)
      2. People Are Marrying Later or Are Not Marrying at All—couples have children later in life as
          a result
      3. High First Marriage and Even Higher Second Marriage Divorce Rates—more families are headed
          by single women which affects income (usually less) and consumption patterns.

15-1c Economic and Gender Roles Impact on Households
      Two-Income Families
      since the mid 1940’s is the steady increase in the number of women in the workforce.
       A study comparing the expenditures of single and dual earner households found that income was
          the best predictor of spending habits not single versus dual income (example: two households
          each making $100,000 would have similar spending habits even though in one family it took one
          person to generate the $100,000 and in the other family it took two)

       Working Women in Two-Income Families
       1. Career Women—over half have college education, professional and managerial jobs; plan ahead,
          brand loyal, likely to have credit cards; consumers of products like freeze dried coffee, natural
          cereals, travel, cars
       2. Just-a-Job Women—tend to cluster at higher and lower end of age scale, generally lower family
          income; experimental, responsive to promotions, concerned about saving money, relatively
          impulsive

       Single Women Heading Families
       In 1998, there were 13 million single-parent families in the United States headed by woman. That is
       no husband present. 14% of all whites, 24% Hispanic, 42% African-Americans; strong demand for
       childcare from family or others, lower income, children participate at an earlier age and to a greater
       extent in shopping, woman is involved in both male and female dominant decisions

       Gender Roles
       Closely related to the growth in two-income families is the impact of the changing role of men and
       woman in the United States. Moving away from exclusive roles appropriate to one gender; some
       activities still more gender specific (example: housework, childcare, maintaining family rituals and
       ties are female)
        Androgyny—blurring of gender roles
15-2 Family and Household Consumption Patterns
        Family lifecycle has five stages:

15-2a Young Singles
      Young singles between 18–24, live with parents; buy snack foods, cookies, ice cream, bread, butter,
      canned soup, spaghetti sauce, laundry detergent, facial tissue, beer, ale, wine, spirit coolers;
      discretionary income spent on entertainment, movies, records, tapes, CDs, sports equipment, shoes;
      heavy magazine readers, TV viewers; late night talk/variety, weekend pro sports, situation comedy,
      prime time viewing habits.

15-2b Newlyweds
      The newlywed market is made up of 5.16 million people who have been married over one year or
      less. Older newlyweds own home, buy household furnishings, fine china; both younger and older buy
      basic furnishings, linens, cooking appliances; watch daytime dramas, situation comedies, prime time,
      weekend sports; joint decision making common; older newlyweds may bring children into family.
Chapter 15   Household and Family Influences                                                 15-3


15-2c Young Couples Without Children
      spend more time and money entertaining, going to bars or nightclubs, dancing, dining, distilled spirits,
      bottled water; own two cars and buy new rather than used; travel overseas; spend rather than save;
      read magazines and watch less TV, favorite programs are weekend sports, news specials.

15-2d Married Couples with Children
      Dual earners and single income; dual earners make more money but have less time, home life more
      hectic; age of children impacts consumption patterns.

15-2e Households with Teenagers
      Both spouses usually employed; buy brownie and cookie mix, ice cream, snack cakes, salty snacks,
      frozen pizza, pizza mix; own cars, motorcycles, RV’s, audio equipment, records, tapes, CDs; TV
      viewing late night movies, drama, early morning news, weekend sports.

15-2f    Mature Couples
         Both spouses usually employed, children often grown, invest more, have vacation homes, watch golf,
         feature films, prime time and news specials.

Dr. S. NOTE: CONSIDER ALSO: all of the alternative family stages that have been created. a) single
heads of households, b) adult children moving back home, c) Role-reversal: Children caretakers of parents

Roles of Household Members in the Consumer Decision Process
15-3a Husband/Wife Decisions
      Researchers have divided purchase decisions into four Categories:
      1. Husband Dominant—(example: lawnmower, roofing shingles)
      2. Wife Dominant—(example: linens, child care)
      3. Autonomic—husband and wife independently make the same decision (example: what movie to
         go to; what restaurant to eat at)
      4. Syncratic—husband and wife make decision together (example: buying a house, car, vacation)

15-3b Sources of Power in Household Marketplace Decisions
      How is it decided that a certain person in the family or household will be responsible for making all
      the decisions on certain types of products or services used by the unit or individuals?
      Five sources of Power:
      1. Power Earned—person shows over time they are good at making decisions (example: John
          chooses the mechanic to fix the car because he knows what questions to ask)
      2. Take the Power—(example: Jane met with the decorator and contractor and made the decisions
          for the home remodeling project without consulting the rest of the family)
      3. Power Is Given—(example: no one can figure where to go on vacation so they let the dad decide)
      4. Society Says—(example: women are supposed to choose child care)
      5. Marketplace Value—person making the most money given the right (example: John makes more
          than his wife Mary so he decides when major purchases will be made)
15-4                                             Part 4   Sociological Influences on Consumer Decision Making

15-3c Other Decision-Influencing Factors
      Researchers have identified three additional factors that can help marketers predict how certain
      decisions are made within a household or family.

        1. Product Type—the type of product can dictate whether the decision will be gender dominant,
           autonomic or syncratic (example: high price/risk product like car or home are syncratic; low
           price/risk product like groceries are autonomic)
        2. Gender-Role Orientation—some husbands act and feel more masculine than others or some
           women take on more masculine roles; families with less traditional gender role orientations have a
           greater tendency to engage in joint decision making (example: men may be the one to do much of
           the housework, cooking; women car maintenance or yard work)
        3. Type of Decision—the length of the decision making and the complexity of the decision may
           dictate that roles vary in the various stages of problem recognition, information search and
           alternative evaluation; decisions made during the information search tend to be autonomic

15-3d Children’s Influence on Decisions
      It is estimated that children between the ages of 4 and 12 influence buying decisions to the tune of
      $70 billion a year.

        1. Product Type—adolescents perceive that their parents think their influence is strongest in child-
           minor items (clothing, shoes, movies, calculators) then child-major items (personal stereos,
           bicycles), the family-major items (cars, stereos, houses TV, vacations), lastly family-minor items
           (juice, toothpaste, ketchup, shampoo, breakfast cereal, soft drinks)
        2. Children’s Personal Resources—income, employment status, grades, birth order, presence or
           absence of siblings, parent’s love and confidence (example: the more the personal resources are
           the greater the influence—Jane is buying the CD with her own money therefore has more
           influence if and what she gets)
        3. Children’s Age—influence increases with age due to more cognitive ability and experience
        4. Mother’s Child-Centeredness and Attitude toward Television or Advertising—the more child-
           centered the mother is the less she gives in to child’s preferences (example: Sarah’s mother won’t
           let her get the snack cakes because her mom is concerned about her health and well being);
           mothers who restrict TV watching tend to have less favorable attitudes toward advertising and
           defer less to children’s opinions
        5. Family Communication Environment
           a. Socio-Oriented Communication—harmony, pleasant social interactions, cohesiveness,
                avoidance of conflict and controversy; children have little influence and are expected to go
                along with parent’s decisions (example: ad should show a happy cohesive family)
           b. Concept-Oriented Communication—individual thought and analysis; children are
                encouraged to think and evaluate options on their own even if it leads to conflict (example: ad
                should show features and encourage evaluation)
        6. Parental Style
           a. Authoritarian—restrict children’s activities and are not nurturing
           b. Authoritative—set limits but are nurturing
           c. Permissive—nurturing but do not set restrictions—child’s influence highest here

15-3e Roles of Family/Household Members at Each Stage in the Decision Process
      Family members often assume varying roles across the five stages of the decision cycle. An
      individual could play all five roles simultaneously, or a number of family members could be involved
      at each stage.
      Five Stages:
      1. Problem recognition,                                      4. Consumption and
      2. Information search,                                       5. Post-purchase evaluation
      3. Alternative evaluation,