Spousal roles in family purchase decision making process: a review for the partial fulfillment of the degree of doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) Dr. Singla Bharat Bhushan, Supervisor, Modi Sanjeev Kumar, Assistant Professor School of Management Studies, Punjabi University, Patiala Online published on 19 October, 2011. Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the spousal role in family purchase decision making process. While the roles played by husbands and wives have been shown to change over stages of the family decision-making process, a gap exists in the literature with respect to whether and how decision role structure may change over time. While many important issues have been addressed effectively, the question of how and why decision role structure changes over time in family decision making has received relatively little theoretical or empirical attention. While decision role structure may change over the course of the family life cycle, another important reason for role changes and a focus of this paper is that the macro-level environment in which consumers operate may change (e.g., economic, social, or cultural forces), which in turn may provide impetus for decision role structure to change. Over a period of time such macro-level changes tend to influence the behavior of people in a society. The focus of the study was on the prevalence of spousal role and their goals and perception with respect to the specific purchase behavior involved. We are interested to know how the modernization, education, westernization, spouse's status, culture and income etc. effect on their decision making process. Top |