Cooperation and Conflict in Family Decision Making

This study addresses the family dynamics of the decision making process, in particular the issues of cooperation and conflict, in both two parent and lone parent families. Thirty individual and family-group interviews were held (five two-parent families and twenty-five lone parent families). The families all had low incomes, heightening the importance placed on the consumer decision making process. Findings are considered in relation to the interaction between couples as well as parent-child interaction. Overall, cooperation was a more prominent theme than conflict amongst the families and collectivist values tended to dominate.

Citation:

Kathy Hamilton and Miriam Catterall (2007) ,"Cooperation and Conflict in Family Decision Making", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, and Cele Otnes, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 43-48.