Family decision-making in an emerging market: Tensions with tradition

Nguyen Huong Lien, Kate Westberg, Constantino Stavros and Linda J. Robinson

Journal of Business Research, 2018, vol. 86, issue C, 479-489

Abstract: We explore the role of the extended family on family decision-making in the context of a high-involvement purchase decision in an emerging economy. Adopting a grounded theory approach, we conducted 33 in-depth interviews with 11 families across Vietnam, including both nuclear and extended family members. Our findings demonstrate that parents retain a significant, albeit evolving, role in the consumption decision-making of their adult children, acting as a facilitator, cultural mentor and/or patriarch. However, these roles, coupled with the broader macro-environmental transformation, have contributed to two key tensions with tradition for the younger generation: respecting and deferring to their parents versus fulfilling their own aspirations fuelled by socio-economic change; and, for women in particular, achieving a greater voice in decision-making versus adhering to the culturally entrenched norms of a patriarchal society.

Keywords: Family decision-making; Emerging market; Parental influence; Extended family; Traditions; Vietnam (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296317303004
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:86:y:2018:i:c:p:479-489

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.09.003

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside

More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().