by 1. Family is one of the most powerful social factors affecting consumer behaviour. This is more significant where there is joint family system, in which children use to live with family for longer time. Values, traditions, and preferences are transmitted from parents to children inherently.
Family members constitute the most influential primary reference group. From family, its member acquires an orientation toward religion, politics, ambition, self-worth, love, respect, and so on. Need, preference, buying habits, consumption rate, and many other aspects determined by family affect one’s behaviour.
In every family, elders, husband-wife, other members, and children have varying degree of influence on purchase decision, which is the matter of interest for the marker to appeal them. Some products are children dominant; some products are husband dominant; some products are wife dominant; while some products are equal dominant.
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Reference Groups:
Philip Kotler states: “A person’s reference group consists of all the groups that have a direct (face-to-face) or indirect influence on the person’s attitudes or behaviour.” Groups having a direct influence on the person are called membership groups.
Normally, following reference groups affect behaviour of their members:
- Primary Reference Groups:
They are informal groups such as family members, friends, neighbors, relatives, and co-workers with whom the person interact fairly continuously. Habits, life-style, and opinions of these groups have direct impact on the person.
2. Secondary Reference Groups:
They tend to be more formal groups such as religious groups, professional groups, trade unions or associations, etc., that affect buying decisions of an individual buyer.
3. Aspiration (Aspired) Groups:
A person is not the member of such groups. But, he likes to belong to those groups. He imitates habits, preference and buying pattern of such groups. For example, college students imitate/like to belong to film stars, sportsmen, or professional groups.
4. Dissociative (Disliked) Groups:
Theses reference groups include such groups whose values or behaviour a person rejects or dislikes. He tends to behave differently than those groups. A marketer should identify reference groups of his target market and should try to influence those groups. In case of television, automobile, clothing, home furniture, books and magazines, cigarettes, etc., the reference groups have more direct impact on buyers’ purchase decision.
Family Decision Stages
- Problem recognition
- Search for information
- Evaluation of alternatives
- Final decision
Husband-wife influence studies, classify consumer decisions as:
Wife-dominant decisions, e.g., food, purchase of groceries.Husband-dominant decisions, e.g., automobiles, life insurance.Syncratic decisions (joint), e.g., vacations, choice of schools for children.Automatic decisions (unilateral)
Decisions may either be:
Consensual: Everyone in the family may agree with the desired outcome.
Accommodative: Need conflict resolution by persuasion or bargaining.
Element of power within the family is obtained from:
Economic resources: Persons making greater economic contribution have more economic power.
Cultural norms: In a male dominated society husband has greater powers.
Expert power: More knowledge a person possess. Husband may know more about cars wife may know more about household items.
Legitimate power: This depends on the role the family members play.
Bargaining power: Power through give and take method.
Reward/referent power: Giving rewards to others which are liked and appreciated. Emotional power: Purchase decisions are influenced by emotions, sentiments and feelings of one partner.
