Household Decision Making Roles

Consumer Behavior, Discussion Exercises, Free Activities, Review Exercises, Role Plays

Topics

group influence, decision process, household decisions, roles

Review the activity below or download the PDF student worksheet

Student Discussion Activity

Consumers often play different roles within a family (or household) decision making unit. Your task in this activity is to identify who might be involved in the decisions below and what role that they may play in that decision.

To get you started, an example has been provided for you.

Purchase Decision = Christmas presents for the kids

Possible Players and Roles

  • Kids = Influencers
  • The kids write their ‘Santa lists’ requesting (influencing) their presents for Xmas
  • Both parents and kids = Information gatherers
  • The older kids surf the net regarding what particular toy type and where available (information gatherer)
  • The parents review store catalogs and note prices (information gatherer)
  • Parents together = Decision maker
  • Parents jointly decide what to buy for kids (decider)
  • Kids = Users
  • Kids gets toys/gifts at Christmas (user)
  • Kids = Initiators (of next purchase)
  • Kids now want extra accessories for their new toys/gifts (initiating next purchase)
Here are some other purchase decisions for you to consider – who are the possible players and roles and why?

1 = A new family car

2 = The weekly groceries at the supermarket

3 = A Netflix movie choice for the family movie night

Student Discussion Questions

  1. Start by completing the above table for the remaining three product purchase decisions.
  2. Do you think it is important that firms need to understand the various roles in the family decision making process? Why?
  3. Outline, with some examples, how this knowledge/understanding would influence a firm’s marketing activities.
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