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Is spousal decision making a culturally situated phenomenon?
Author(s) -
Webster Cynthia
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6793(200012)17:12<1035::aid-mar2>3.0.co;2-b
Subject(s) - situated , spouse , psychology , phenomenon , personality , social psychology , power (physics) , ethnography , sociology , epistemology , anthropology , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , computer science
The research reported here examines the underlying personality antecedents for marital power in purchase decision making. Taking the stance that spousal decision making is a culturally situated phenomenon, the research was conducted in India, a culture vastly different from the one in which the existing antecedents of power were established. Data were collected via participant observation and multiple, in‐depth ethnographic interviews and analyzed by a constant comparative method. Contrary to popular impression, this article finds that Indian wives wield considerable decision‐making power. Further, the findings reported here argue that that a spouse's personality traits will largely dictate his or her relative influence in decision making. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.