Influence of Family Structure on Consumer Decision-making Style in Iran

PurposeThe purpose of this conceptual paper is to attempt to demonstrate the impact of marital roles and family structure on consumer decision-making style within an Islamic culture. Design/methodology/approachThis paper wants to understand how husbands/wives with Eastern norms and Islamic culture use different decision-making style. Reviews of literature in consumer decision-making and family structure served for the development of the conceptual arguments. This article utilizes the library and secondary data from World Bank Group (2006) and Statistical Center of Iran (2007) for analysis. Findings-Family structure (that is male-dominate, wife-dominate, joint decision-making or egalitarianism style) and also Islamic norms and Iranian culture have profound impact on decision-making style on Iranian families. Research limitations/implicationsSince the paper presents only the conceptual framework and secondary data, it does not include empirical research that could be carried out to validate the arguments presented in this paper. Children have incredible influence on family decision-making styles. But this paper does not address these effects. Practical ImplicationIt is believed that male and female consumers in Iran may also have certain distinctive characteristics in terms of their decision orientation towards shopping and buying that could be of equal interest to both researchers and marketing practitioners. Originality/ValueCurrent Islamic research is limited to Halal and Islamic finance, and little investigation has been done on Muslims’ consumer behavior. So this conceptual paper reveals that family structure can influence on a wife or husband`s decision-making style.