Determining factors in family purchasing behaviour: an empirical investigation

Analyses the factors which determine family purchase behaviour. The family has traditionally been considered as an important decision‐making unit with respect to the large quantity of products and services which are purchased by households on a daily basis. Sets out to determine the variables which exert an influence when choosing a product or service (socio‐economic, individual, etc.). Concentration is centred on an analysis of the role of the spouses in an attempt to determine whether there exists a particular purchasing pattern according to the sex of the consumer. The empirical analysis has been carried out on the basis of a survey of 600 Spanish families. Using the Multiple Correspondence Analysis technique we can observe that joint decisions are made by young couples, only where the wife works, whilst in a situation where the wife does not work or the spouses have been married for many years, it is the husband alone who decides.