Exploring Latin American family decision-making using correspondence analysis

To maintain a position in the market place, it is important for marketers to have a good understanding of consumer purchasing patterns, particularly when marketing in the global markets. Understanding purchasing behavior in a cultural context is an important dimension of consumer research. In this article, three Latin American societies are studied in cross-cultural comparisons of husband and wife decision-making roles in the purchase of various goods and services in some how resembling environments. There are high degrees of similarities in family purchasing decision roles exist among the three countries. This study provides insights for managerial and public policy makers on the implications of cross-cultural similarities and differences in consumer decision-making. This paper is composed of six sections. The first two sections present an introduction and a review of the consumer decision life style literature. Sections 3 and 4 offer a description and explains the methodology and research design used in this study. Sections 5 and 6 provide an in depth analysis, discussion and conclusion of the findings. Finally, Section 7 outlines the managerial implications and limitations to the study.