Love and money Chinese couples decisions on wedding

Love and money: Chinese couple’s decisions on wedding expenses Kara Chan, Hong Kong Baptist University Shiu-Fai Chan, Lingnan University ACR Asia Pacific Conference, May 2002 conferen2002ACR_love&money 1

Study of purchases with ritual occasions Consumers devote much time and effort to the purchase of goods and services for a special occasion The white wedding, thanksgiving day, funeral services The Chinese wedding: The central role of family in the Chinese culture l Negotiation between two individuals l conferen2002ACR_love&money 2

Wedding in Hong Kong Chinese wedding in transition: from institutional to companionship Greater role-sharing and gender equality in marital relationship due to increasing economic power of women, and the rise of individualism 6. 8 million pop, each year: 31, 000 reg. Marriages, 93% in registries Median age of bride (27), groom (29) conferen2002ACR_love&money 3

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Research objectives To examine the relative influence of brides and grooms Change in spousal influence between the information search stage and the final decision stage Explore factors that may have impact on the spousal purchase decision patterns conferen2002ACR_love&money 5

Literature review Davis and Rigaux’s (1974) benchmarke study of husband-wife influences by product category Products are classified into husband dominant, wife dominant, autonomic and joint decisions Husband took a more dominant role from the problem recognition stage. When moving from information search to the final stage, the pattern of influence become more equal conferen2002ACR_love&money 6

Literature review Factors influencing the spousal roles: power indicators: education, income, occupational prestige Cultural factors: whether the society is egalitarian (equal gender status) conferen2002ACR_love&money 7

Hypotheses H 1: there will be more joint influences for high-expense products throughout the decision making process H 2: movement towards joint influences from the info search stage to the final decision stage H 3: grooms with higher income and education will exert greater influences at the final decision stage conferen2002ACR_love&money 8

method Survey of 91 Chinese couples that married in 1999 and 2000 conducted in Nov 2001 Questionnaire: How much they spent on 10 wedding items, Filter out no such expenses, paid for by others l Ask couple to distribute 100 points to indicate degree of influence at two stages l demographics l conferen2002ACR_love&money 9

expenses Survey of 91 Chinese couples that married in 1999 and 2000 conducted in Nov 2001 Questionnaire: How much they spent on 10 wedding items, Filter out no such expenses, paid for by others l Ask couple to distribute 100 points to indicate degree of influence at two stages l demographics l conferen2002ACR_love&money 10

expenses H M L conferen2002ACR_love&money 11

Spousal influence by stage Information search Final decision conferen2002ACR_love&money 12

Chinese wedding tradition The groom pays for the banquet The bride price: contribution by the groom’s family to the bride’s family The dowry: contributed by the bride’s family and kept by the bride as secret pocket money conferen2002ACR_love&money 13

H 1 H 1: there will be more joint influences for high-expense products throughout the decision making process Influence of husband at info stage = 57. 6%, significantly higher than 50% (t=4. 87, p<0. 0005) Influence of husband at final stage = 57. 7%, significantly higher than 50% (t=4. 78, p<0. 0005) H 1 is not supported conferen2002ACR_love&money 14

H 2 H 2: movement towards joint influences from the info search stage to the final decision stage Pairwise t-test of influence of husband at info stage and final decision stage indicates there are no significant changes for all three types of products H 2 is not supported conferen2002ACR_love&money 15

H 3: grooms with higher income will exert greater influences [not supported] conferen2002ACR_love&money 16

H 3: grooms with higher edu will exert greater influences [not supported] conferen2002ACR_love&money 17

conclusion Male dominance in the purchase of high -expense products in weddings No spousal change at different stage: lack of division of labor, enjoy shopping together Resource and power do not play an essential role (the sample are of high salary and education) conferen2002ACR_love&money 18

Future research Replicate the study in different cultures Trace the change of spousal roles in later stages of the family cycle conferen2002ACR_love&money 19