Question

ACTIVITY 5

MG642 Consumer Behavior

Lesson 5: Consumers as Decision Makers

Activity 5: It Takes a Family

Interview a family about a recent purchase that involved and/or affected the entire family. Interview each family member separately so that you can identify family decision-making patterns and any conflicts that might have occurred. In your response, consider all of the factors discussed in Assignment #5, using the process outlined below. Your Activity responses should be both grammatically and mechanically correct, and formatted in the same fashion as the Activity itself. If there is a Part A, your response should identify a Part A, etc. In addition, you must appropriately cite all resources used in your response and document in a bibliography using APA style. (100 points) (A 4-page analysis is required.)

Part A        Describe the family you interviewed in terms of composition, names, ages, etc.

Part B        Give an overview of the decision that they faced.  

Part C        Analyze the decision process itself including the following factors.  

1. Family Life Cycle

2. Family Memberships (type of family)

3. Gender Role Expectations

4. Spousal Resources

5. Purchase Experience of Family Members

6. Socioeconomic Status

7. Family Communication Patterns (authoritarian or modern)

8. Influence from Children

9. Type of Mothering Style

10. Purchase Involvement among Family Members

11. Responsibility Assigned Regarding Purchase or Product Care

12. Power Distribution Among Family Members

Part D      Discuss the resolution of conflicts, if any. If no conflicts occurred, then discuss why no conflicts occurred.

Answer 1

The family interviewed is a nuclear family.

Fred - Male 40

Jenifer - Wife of Fred - Age 38

Emma - Daughter of Fred and Jenifer Age - 8

The decision they faced was deciding on a holiday which was a bundled purchase.
Let us analyse the buying decision based on the following factors.

The family life cycle is young couple with a small child.
Family membership is nuclear.

The parents are the caregivers.

Both Fred and Jenifer hold full time jobs and contribute equally towards family expenses.

The purchase experience includes extensive research like short listing multiple destinations , making travel plans and selecting hotel and sightseeing plans .

The family is comfortably off and follow a modern system of decision making where both partners agree on a view. Even the choice of the child is taken into account taking into account the important role of children as a decision maker. Mothering style is loving and encouraging views.

The purchase was made on a general consensus model.

There is equal power distribution among the spouses and therefore very little conflict was observed.