Applications of the life course paradigm to family life cycle and later life stage consumer behaviors.

Abstract

The family life cycle (FLC) concept focuses on how family life transitioning events affect behavior. Each stage of family life exhibits particular social roles, expected age ranges, and behaviors (including consumption patterns). Family life cycle stages are applied for market segmentation with an assumption of homogeneity in consumer behavior based on social roles and age. Though the FLC model has been verified to be a fruitful tool for marketing and consumer behavior studies, its assumptions raise several queries. Can one assume homogeneous consumer behavior within each FLC stage? What may account for within FLC stage differences in consumer behaviors? Does timing of transitional FLC events and the length of time people occupy a FLC stage affect consumer behavior? This dissertation applies the life course paradigm to address such FLC assumptions. The life course paradigm is composed of multi-theoretical perspectives that could explain how life events and contexts affect the onset, change, and continuity in behaviors. This dissertation, therefore, uses the life course paradigm in three studies to overcome the limitations of the present FLC models. The first study examines life course perspectives and assumptions at all stages of the family life cycle. It applies the life course paradigm to examine variation in consumer behaviors within a particular stage of family life as a result of life course contexts. The life course contexts in this study comprise two main factors-temporal factors (timing of transition within FLC and duration of FLC stage), and life changing events (role-changing events and unexpected/non-programmed events). Consumer behavior, in this study, comprises nine general product/service categories. Based on a sample of 871 Thai participants, the study found that life course contexts (temporal and life events) influence consumer behavior at certain stages of family life. To apply life course assumptions to a particular stage of family life, the second and third studies focus on old-age stages. The second study examines life course assumptions about old-age stage behavior. It focuses on older adults aged 45 and above. Most marketers treat the mature stages as exhibiting homogeneity in consumer behavior. Life course scholars concede that individuals have different aging processes, explained by life course contexts, such as life experiences and timing of old-age role-related experiences. This study assumes that the old-age market segment may need further sub-segmentation owing to heterogeneous life course contexts which can give rise to heterogeneity in consumer behavior. Based on a sample of 511 Thai participants, the findings show that historical life events and duration of occupied old-age stage affect the level of consumption in old-age role-related activities. The third study applies life course as a theoretical explanation and methodological support for a new age measure, 'gerontographics', for segmenting the old-age consumer market. In marketing studies, age is a conventional indicator for predicting behavior. However, life course scholars claim that people may behave contrary to their actual age as a result of their biophysical, psychological and social aging. People exhibit unique values and behavior because of their aging process. The aging processes are embedded within life course contexts, such as historical life experiences, socialization arid biophysical conditions. Gerontographics is a new age measure that attempts to classify the old-age stage into four sub-segments: healthy indulgers, healthy hermits, ailing outgoers and frail recluses. This study aims to propose 'gerontographics' as an alternative model to age and cognitive age. Utilizing the same sample of 511 Thai participants from the second study, findings show that the gerontographics model is more powerful in predicting certain types of older adults' consumer behavior compared to age and/or cognitive age. Furthermore, this measure gauges aging processes to validate the presence in the Thai context of similar gerontographic segments to those in the United States. The implications of these three studies might be limited iri terms of applicability in other cultural settings, as the findings and analysis are offered solely in the Thai cultural context. A larger sample size may provide better reliability and validity. Numerous interesting aspects of consumer behavior, such as pricing sensitivity, brand loyalty, or promotion activities, should be should be the focus of further research on the predictive power of the gerontographics model.