A Study on the Rationality of Wives' Decision Making in Purchasing - comparisons, Between Working and nonworking Wives-

도시주부의 購買의사결정 합리성에 관한 연구 -취업주부와 비취업주부의 비교분석-

Previous studies show that working wives in the market contribute to the family economy that affects the family member's behaviors as consumers. Accordingly, the consumer behavior among working wives would be differ form that among nonworking wives. As the number of working wives in the market is increasing, this study focuses on the estimation of the degree of rationality in purchasing decision making among wives in relation to their working status. Therefore, this study attempts to construct an rationality index of a purchasing decision making both at a high and a low involvement situation by working and nonworking wives, and analyzes the differences in the results of the two groups. This study also examines how the rationality indices vary with the selected socioeconomic variables. The data are obtained from self-administered questionnaires from a sample of 217 working and 191 nonworking wives at Seoul and Seongnam in 1986. The statistical methods used in this study are Factor Analysis, Multiple Regression, and Analysis of Variances. The major findings of this study are as follows; 1) The mean value of the rationality index among nonworking wives is higher than that among working wives. Under a high involvement situation, the mean value of the rationality index among working wives is negative. Therefore, it is likely that nonworking wives make purchasing decisions more rationally than working wives. 2) The higher the degree of wive's education, the more rational the purchasing decision making. Under a low involvement situation, the higher the monthly family income, the more rational the purchasing decision making . under the same situation, the shorter the duration of marriage , the more rational the purchasing decision making. 3) Under a low involvement situation, the rationality indices of working wives vary with their occupations. The rationality indices among those in selling and service jobs are lower than those among those in professional jobs. 4) The impact of the selected socio-economic variables on the degree of the rationality in purchasing decision making differs depending on whether the wife is working or not. Under a low involvement situation, the positive impact of the monthly family income on the rationality in purchasing decision making is stronger among nonworking wives than among working wives. Under the same situation, the negative impact of the duration of marriage on the rationality is stronger among nonworking wives than among working wives.