Influence of Family Structure on Consumer Decision-making Style in Iran

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this conceptual paper is to attempt to demonstrate the impact of marital roles and family structure on consumer decision-making style within an Islamic culture. Design/methodology/approach-This paper wants to understand how husbands/wives with Eastern norms and Islamic culture use different decision-making style. Reviews of literature in consumer decision-making and family structure served for the development of the conceptual arguments. This article utilizes the library and secondary data from World Bank Group (2006) and Statistical Center of Iran (2007) for analysis. Findings-Family structure (that is male-dominate, wife-dominate, joint decision-making or egalitarianism style) and also Islamic norms and Iranian culture have profound impact on decision-making style on Iranian families. Research limitations/implications-Since the paper presents only the conceptual framework and secondary data, it does not include empirical research that could be carried out to validate the arguments presented in this paper. Children have incredible influence on family decision-making styles. But this paper does not address these effects. Practical Implication-It is believed that male and female consumers in Iran may also have certain distinctive characteristics in terms of their decision orientation towards shopping and buying that could be of equal interest to both researchers and marketing practitioners. Originality/Value-Current Islamic research is limited to Halal and Islamic finance, and little investigation has been done on Muslims' consumer behavior. So this conceptual paper reveals that family structure can influence on a wife or husband`s decision-making style. The consumers`consumers`behavior when choosing between alternative products is one of the most analyzed topics in consumer interest studies. However, although many factors influence consumer decision-making, consumers are thought to approach the market with certain basic decision-making styles. Decision-making is becoming increasingly complex for consumers and with the emergence of electronic forms of product display and information, the complexity of decision-making intensifies further. The advent of global markets has resulted in a plethora of product choices, retail channels and promotional activity, which make consumers' decision-making increasingly complex. In the extensive consumer behavior literature, most studies assume that all consumers approach shopping with certain decision-making traits that combine to form a consumer's decision-making style (Walsh et al., 2001b). Decision-making styles are important to marketing because they determine consumer behavior, are relatively stable over time and are relevant for market segmentation. In the past two decades, global marketers have been attempting to explore various market opportunities in Asia, with particular focus on the Muslim market. From a methodological perspective, effective market segmentation requires meaningful bases or variables with which the total market can be divided. Consumer markets are typically divided by demographic, psychographic or buying-related variables. A demographic segmentation can be conducted easily, because popularity of