According to M. Solomon, “Household decision making” is the process of the consumer decision making that involves more than one person on the purchasing for products or services that multiple consumers use. Fig. 1. Stages in consumer decision making Source: Solomon (2011) This turns into a more complex decision process than the individual decision making, since different persons have to agree to best purchase they face factors of conflict among them because of: interpersonal need, product involvement and utility, responsibility and power. (Seymour, D and Lessne, G in Solomon 2011).

1. “Experiential Exercise”
Ch. 12 Household Decision
Making
Presented by
Miguel Ángel Fernández November 15th, 2011

2. Who controls the purse in households?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3iU8Ifmzd4

3. Warm Up – Who takes the decisions at
your household?
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End

4. Theory Review

5. “Household” refers to a house and
its occupants regarded as a unit.
“Household decision making”:
- collective process in which more
than one person is involved in the
purchasing process for products
or services to be used by multiple
consumers
Complex decision
Conflict due to:
-interpersonal need
-product involvement and utility
-responsibility
-power
Fig. 1. Stages in consumer decision making

6. Household patterns • Heuristics serve couple to agree on
“Household” refers to a house and
a system of task specialization and
• The household decision making
concessions areregarded as a unit.
its occupants based on the force
involves more than one person on
of each spouse’s preferences.
the purchasing process.
• Worldwide Roper Starch study:
“Household decision making”:
• “Syncretic decision”, occurs when
- collective process in which more
wives tend to have more to say
decision involve two partners. than one person is involved in the
when buying groceries, children’s
Syncretic decisions are common for
toys, clothes,process for products
purchasing and medicine.
vacations, homes, appliances, or services to be used by multiple
• In traditional families (especially low
furniture, home electronics, and consumers
education), the man makes the
phone services.
money and the woman spends it.
• “Consensual purchase decision”, Complex decision
• Modern gender families share
where the group agrees on the
participationto: family maintenance
Conflict due in
desired purchase. -interpersonal need
activities
• “Autonomic decision”, when one -product involvement and utility
• The greater the income, the greater
family member is responsible for -responsibility
the influence the spouse has.
choosing a product. -power
• Middle- class families make more
• Gender-role stereotypes: Traditional
joint decisions than do either
gender role stereotype for gender
higher- or lower- class families
type products .
• Families with young children are
• Responsibility for food is nearly
more likely to consume health foods
80%t of the wives. decision making
Fig. 1. Stages in consumer

7. Household patterns • Heuristics serve couple to agree on
a system of task specialization and
• The household decision making
concessions are based on the force
involves more than one person on
of each spouse’s preferences.
the purchasing process.
• Worldwide Roper Starch study:
• “Syncretic decision”, occurs when
wives tend to have more to say
decision involve two partners.
when buying groceries, children’s
Syncretic decisions are common for
toys, clothes, and medicine.
vacations, homes, appliances,
• In traditional families (especially low
furniture, home electronics, and
education), the man makes the
phone services.
money and the woman spends it.
• “Consensual purchase decision”,
• Modern gender families share
where the group agrees on the
participation in family maintenance
desired purchase.
activities
• “Autonomic decision”, when one
• The greater the income, the greater
family member is responsible for
the influence the spouse has.
choosing a product.
• Middle- class families make more
• Gender-role stereotypes: Traditional
joint decisions than do either
gender role stereotype for gender
higher- or lower- class families
type products .
• Families with young children are
• Responsibility for food is nearly
more likely to consume health foods
80%t of the wives.

8. Marketers need to
figure out who
makes buying
decisions in a family
because this
information tells
them who to target
and whether they
need to reach one or
both spouses to
influence a choice.

9. Experiential Exercise

10. Methodology - Create a list of the
categories on typical family
Categories/Country
Food at home
Food away form home
House Keeping supplies
Clothing
Transportation
Vacation
Hobbies -Entretainment
Alcoholic Beverages
Education Expenses
Tobacco
Club Memberships
House Repairs
Public Services

11. Methodology - Select 5
internationals to interview
The sampling of the people was by convenience
and I decided to interview 5 of my acquaintances
at the MUN Library.
The nationalities were the following:
1.Russia
2.Canada
3.China
4.Panama
5.Mexico

12. Methodology – Data Gathering &
Tabulation
WHAT PRODUCTS DO YOU BUY? AND COMMENTS
Categories/Country Russia Canada China Panama Mexico
Food at home LOCAL MILK BEEF RICE EGGS TORTILLA
Food away form home HOLIDAYS RESTAURANT RESTAURANT
House Keeping supplies GENERIC -DETERGENT TIDE DETERGENT GENERIC - BLEACH CHARMIN - TOILET PAPER PALMOLIVE DISH SOAP
Clothing LEVI'S JEANS ON SALE GENERIC DOCKERS
Transportation GAS & CAR FORD & CHEVY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SKODA RENAULT & CHRYSLER
Vacation CHINA ONTARIO GREAT WALL CANADA OAXACA
Hobbies -Entretainment BOOKS MOVIES
Alcoholic Beverages GUINESS BEER CANADIAN BEER RUM ABUELO TEQUILA JOSE CUERVO
Education Expenses MUN MUN CHINA U OF PETROLEUM MUN MUN
Tobacco MARLBORO MARLBORO MARLBORO
Club Memberships I WORKS LOCAL
House Repairs WATER HEATHER PLUMBING WINDOWS PAINT
Public Services CELL PHONE CABLE TV INTERNET

13. Results

14. Russia
www.dailynews.com CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 2011
Categories/Country Russia
Russia Household members 5
INDIVIDUAL Dad work a
10%
Mom work a
Highest income X
MOM Same income a
30%
BOTH
20%
Categories/Country Russia
Food at home LOCAL MILK MOM
House Keeping supplies GENERIC -DETERGENT MOM
Clothing LEVI'S JEANS MOM
Transportation GAS & CAR DAD
Vacation CHINA BOTH
Alcoholic Beverages GUINESS BEER DAD
DAD Education Expenses MUN BOTH
40% Tobacco MARLBORO DAD
House Repairs WATER HEATHER DAD
Public Services CELL PHONE INDIVIDUAL

15. Canada
Consumer Behavior - Since 1802
Canada
INDIVIDUAL
10%
MOM
30%
Categories/Country Canada
Food at home BEEF MOM
House Keeping supplies TIDE DETERGENT MOM
Clothing ON SALE MOM
Transportation FORD & CHEVY BOTH
BOTH Vacation ONTARIO BOTH
40%
Alcoholic Beverages CANADIAN BEER DAD
Education Expenses MUN BOTH
DAD Tobacco MARLBORO BOTH
20%
Club Memberships I WORKS INDIVIDUAL
House Repairs PLUMBING DAD

16. Consumer Behaviour NEWS
China
China
MOM
0%
DAD
INDIVIDUAL 20%
20%
Categories/Country China
Food at home RICE BOTH
Food away form home HOLIDAYS BOTH
House Keeping supplies GENERIC - BLEACH BOTH
Clothing GENERIC INDIVIDUAL
Transportation PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION INDIVIDUAL
BOTH
Vacation GREAT WALL BOTH 60%
Hobbies -Entretainment BOOKS DAD
Education Expenses CHINA U OF PETROLEUM BOTH
House Repairs WINDOWS DAD
Public Services CABLE TV BOTH

17. Consumer Behaviour NEWS
Categories/Country
Household members
Panama
4
Panama
Dad work a
Mom work X
Highest income DAD Panama
INDIVIDUAL
Same income X 0%
BOTH
Categories/Country Panama 20% MOM
Food at home EGGS MOM 30%
Food away form home RESTAURANT MOM
House Keeping supplies CHARMIN - TOILET PAPER MOM
Transportation SKODA DAD
Vacation CANADA BOTH
Hobbies -Entretainment MOVIES BOTH
Alcoholic Beverages RUM ABUELO DAD
Education Expenses MUN DAD DAD
Club Memberships LOCAL DAD 50%
House Repairs PAINT DAD

18. Mexico
www.dailynews.com CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 2011
Categories/Country Mexico
Household members 5
Dad work a
Mom work a
Mexico Highest income DAD
INDIVIDUAL
10%
Same income X
Categories/Country Mexico
Food at home TORTILLA MOM
MOM
30% Food away form home RESTAURANT MOM
BOTH House Keeping supplies PALMOLIVE DISH SOAP MOM
20%
Clothing DOCKERS INDIVIDUAL
Transportation RENAULT & CHRYSLER DAD
Vacation OAXACA BOTH
Alcoholic Beverages TEQUILA JOSE CUERVO DAD
DAD Education Expenses MUN BOTH
40% Tobacco MARLBORO DAD
Public Services INTERNET DAD

19. Comparative Chart Among Countries
Holder decision among countries
100% 0%
10% 10% 10%
90% 20% 20%
80% 20% 20%
70% 40%
60%
50% INDIVIDUAL
50% 40% 60% 40%
%
BOTH
DAD
40% 20% MOM
30%
20%
30.00% 30.00% 30.00% 30.00%
10% 20%
0% 0.00%
Russia Canada China Panama Mexico

20. Application of Theory to the findings
• The household decision making involves more than one person on the purchasing
process.
• “Syncretic decision”, occurs when decision involve two partners. Syncretic decisions are
common for vacations, homes, appliances, furniture, home electronics, and phone
services.
• “Consensual purchase decision”, where the group agrees on the desired purchase.
WHO TAKES THE DECISION?
Categories/Country Russia Canada China Panama Mexico
Vacation BOTH BOTH BOTH BOTH BOTH
Education Expenses BOTH BOTH BOTH DAD BOTH
As shown in the table, Vacation and Education expenses are good examples
of a decision that involves the family members. Vacation results fulfill the
prediction of being a syncretic decision. Vacation can be also considered a
consensual decision and in the case of Mexico, the interviewed mentioned
sons are considered on the vacation decision process.

21. Application of Theory to the findings
• “Autonomic decision”, when one family member is responsible for choosing a product.
• Gender-role stereotypes: Traditional gender role stereotype for gender type products &
responsibility for food is nearly 80%t of the wives
• Heuristics serve couple to agree on a system of task specialization and concessions are
based on the intensity of each spouse’s preferences
• According to Roper Starch Worldwide, wives tend to have more to say when buying
groceries, children’s toys, clothes, and medicine
WHO TAKES THE DECISION?
Categories/Country Russia Canada China Panama Mexico
Food at home MOM MOM BOTH MOM MOM
House Keeping supplies MOM MOM BOTH MOM MOM
Clothing MOM MOM INDIVIDUAL INDIVIDUAL
Transportation DAD BOTH INDIVIDUAL DAD DAD
Alcoholic Beverages DAD DAD DAD DAD
House Repairs DAD DAD DAD DAD
Similarly, in the table, food and housekeeping supplies repairs are an autonomic
As showntransportation, alcoholic beverages and houseare an autonomic decision
decision in husbands in all the countries, except China. These results are also
for wivesfor all the countries, except for China. These results are also related to the
related to gender role stereotypes and the heuristics of specialization for
traditionalgender role stereotypes and heuristics of task task specialization for
man, especially regarding house repairs and car purchase decision.
woman. Also, this proves that the food responsibility is taken by the wives and
verifies Roper study where wives buy groceries and clothes for the family.

22. Application of Theory to the findings
• In traditional families (especially low education), the man makes the money and the
woman spends it.
• Modern gender families share participation in family maintenance activities
• The greater the income, the greater the influence the spouse has.
STATISTICS
Categories/Country Russia Canada China Panama Mexico
Household members 5 4 3 4 5
Dad work a a a a a
Mom work a X a X a
Higesth income X DAD DAD DAD DAD
Same income a X X X X
According to these results, Canada and Panama represent a traditional family where
the husband makes the money and wife spend. In the Canadian family the husband
only makes the decision of Alcoholic Beverages and House Repairs alone.
In the case of Panama, the husband takes most of the decisions alone, and this can be
explained because he is providing all the household income.
On the other hand, the families from Russia, China and Mexico seem to be less
traditional respect to the income.

23. Application of Theory to the findings
• Middle- class families make more joint decisions than do either higher- or
lower- class families
COUNT ON EACH DECISION HOLDER %
Count/Country Russia Canada China Panama Mexico
BOTH 20% 40% 60% 20% 20%
China and Canada families have the major count in joint
decision, so they are more likely to be middle class family.
Surprisingly Chinese marriage does not fit the initial
video, where clearly is said that man carries the purse while
woman takes all the decisions.

24. Application of Theory to the findings
• Families with young children are more likely to consume
health foods
WHAT PRODUCTS DO YOU BUY? AND COMMENTS
Categories/Country Russia Canada China Panama Mexico
Food at home LOCAL MILK BEEF RICE EGGS TORTILLA
All the households have “children members”
(Yes, you are a child for your parents !!!), none of the
food products reported correspond to junk food.

25. Conclusions

26. Miguel A. Fernandez Delgado
Q&A
Thank you for your attention!

27. Backup -Who Buys the Pants?
Although many men still wear the pants in the
family, it’s women who buy them.
Although many men still wear the pants in the family, it’s women
who buy them.

28. “Do Husbands or Wives Make the Purchasing
Decisions?” by Wolgast, Elizabeth
The following table of results shows clearly that the husband has the
predominant decision for a car purchase while wife does for savings, money
and bills. For furniture and goods the decision is taken by both.

29. “Do Husbands or Wives Make the Purchasing
Decisions?” by Wolgast, Elizabeth
As shown in the next table, this study asked the same questions to
both, wife and husband and the answers for both are almost the
same. This proof the veracity of this study.