Page 193 - Foundations of Marketing

160 Part 3 | Customer Behavior and E-Marketing

For example, a man may perform the roles of son, husband, father, employee or employer,
church member, civic organization member, and student in an evening college class. Thus,
multiple sets of expectations are placed on each person’s behavior.
An individual’s roles influence both general behavior and buying behavior. The
demands of a person’s many roles may be diverse and even at times inconsistent or at
odds. Consider the various types of clothes that you buy and wear depending on whether
you are going to class, to work, to a party, or to the gym. You and others in these settings
have expectations about what is acceptable attire for these events. Thus, the expectations
of those around us affect our purchases of many different types of clothing and other
products.

Family Influences

Family influences have a direct impact on the consumer buying decision process. Parents
teach their children how to cope with a variety of problems, including those that help them
consumer socialization The
process through which a per- deal with purchase decisions. Consumer socialization is the process through which a per-
son acquires the knowledge and son acquires the knowledge and skills to function as a consumer. Often, children gain this
skills to function as a consumer knowledge and set of skills by observing parents and older siblings in purchase situations.
Children observe brand preferences and buying practices
in their families and, as adults, will retain some of these
brand preferences and buying practices as they establish
and raise their own families. Buying decisions made by a
family are a combination of group and individual decision
making.
The extent to which family members take part in family
decision making varies among families and product cat-
egories. Traditionally, family decision-making processes
have been grouped into four categories: autonomic, hus-
band dominant, wife dominant, and syncratic, as shown in
Table 6.2 . Although female roles have changed over time,
women still make the majority of purchase decisions in
households. Indeed, research indicates that women are the
primary decision makers for 85 percent of all consumer
7
buying decisions.
The family life-cycle stage affects individual and
joint needs of family members. For example, consider
how the car needs of recently married twenty-somethings
differ from those of the same couple when they are forty-
somethings with a 13 -year-old daughter and a 17 -year-old
son. Family life-cycle changes can affect which family
members are involved in purchase decisions and the types
of products purchased. Children also have a strong influ-
ence on household purchase decisions.
When two or more family members participate in a
purchase, their roles may dictate that each is responsible
for performing certain purchase-related tasks, such as ini-
Fuse/Jupiter Images product is affordable, deciding whether to buy the prod-
tiating the idea, gathering information, determining if the
uct, or selecting the specific brand. The specific purchase
tasks performed depend on the types of products being
considered, the kind of family purchase decision process
Family Influences
The decision process related to purchasing a home is influenced typically employed, and the presence and amount of influ-
by parents and children. In addition, children learn about buying ence children have in the decision process. Thus, different
housing, which they will apply when making similar decisions when family members play different roles in the family buying
they are adults. process.

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