Household Decision-Making

Decisions in households concern different aspects of family life, work life, household chores, and the purchase of goods, and are made by partners of married or unmarried couples (with or without children) who live together in one household. There has been a lot of research, mainly in the social realm, on the underlying processes and roles of decision-making within families and couples. The individual members of a household have different roles and functions during that process and it is not rare that conflicts arise. Processes of decision-making vary across cultures, although there is a general trend toward the adoption of traditional role patterns.

Household decision-making has been studied from psychological, sociological, and economic perspectives. Power structure in a relationship is analyzed as a factor in decision-making. In sociology, decision-making within a household is typically examined in the context of societal developments, such as changes in the proportion of women in the workforce. From an economic perspective, household decision-making is usually studied in terms of consumer behavior.

Often two types of household decisions are distinguished. The first type concerns the purchase of goods and, along with that, the spending of money. The second type is about the division of labor (paid work and unpaid household chores) and responsibilities within the family. Decisions about money management constitute a specific domain, distinguished between the allocation of money and the responsibility for finance related tasks (e.g., paying bills). According to Robert O. Blood and Donald M. Wolfe, family decisions can be classified with respect to autonomy and influence and involve decisions of complete autonomy, in which a family member decides independently, decisions made by a male or husband, decisions where the female or wife dominantes, and decisions with a cooperative structure, in which each family member contributes their opinion.