Who is the decision-maker: the parents or the child in group package tours?

Abstract

Family decision-making research has frequently examined role relationship between husband and wife across stages and subdecisions. In contrast to previous researches, this study examines how family role relationships, inclusive of parents and children, vary over decision-making stages for the group package tour (GPT). A total of 240 different families (mother or father as respondents) purchasing GPTs were surveyed, among them, 35 families also included children. Results indicated that family has a tendency to make a joint decision in problem recognition and the final decision stages, and wives were found to play a dominant role in the information search stage. This study broadens the theoretical domains used in understanding family decision-making for the GPT. For practitioners, marketing implications are provided and recommendations for future research are also discussed.