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Working versus nonworking wives' psychographic profiles
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Working Versus Nonworking Wives’ Psychographic Profiles A Longitudinal Thomas
Analysis
D. Jensen
C. P. Rao Randy
Hilton
University of Arkansas
This article examines the proposition that working and nonworking wives’ psychographic profiles related to the purchase, preparation, and consumption of food items may have changed during the recent years. With the use of economic conditions, marketing efforts, and general sociological changes during the past few years, postulates are developed that suggest converging, diverging, or paralleling psychographical profiles. With the use of data collected in 1980 and 1986, these postulates are examined and implications provided accordingly. Introduction During the 1970s and early 1980s consumer markets in the United States were characterized by volatile environmental changes and, consequently, consumer lifestyle changes. One of the more dramatic of these changes was the ever increasing proportion of women in the labor force. Between 1950 and 1974, the number of women in the labor force nearly doubled. In 1975, the labor force increased by 1.5 million, of which 1.1 million were women. In 1980, 45.6 million women were employed outside the home. In 1986, the number was up to 49 million; 70% of women between 25 and 54 years of age were gainfully employed. Similarly, the percentage of married women participating in the labor force has grown from 24% in 1950 to 55% in 1985, with projections for 1995 estimating that 65% of the married women will be employed outside of the home (see Assael, 1987, p. 235). It is axiomatic that such dramatic.changes in women’s labor force participation have concurrently brought about changes in their familial roles and consumption behavior. It wasn’t until the mid-1970s that empirical studies began to emerge that attempted to explicate the impact of wives’ employment status on consumption be-
Address correspondence to: Thomas D. Jensen, Marketing Department, tration, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701.
Journal of Business Research 19, 255-265 (1989) Q 1989 Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc. 655 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10010
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haviors; research in the area revolved around the premise of working wives’ coping strategies in handling fewer hours for household tasks and leisure. These studies addressed the differences between working and nonworking wives in the acquisition of goods and services (e.g., Bellante and Foster, 1983; Nickels and Fox, 1983; Reilly, 1982; Strober and Weinberg, 1977, 1980; Weinberg and Winer, 1983), retail shopping (e.g., Berry, 1979; Holman and Wilson, 1982; Jackson et al., 1985; Wilson and Holman, 1984; Zeithaml, 1985) and media usage (e.g., Douglas, 1976, 1977; Venkatesh and Tankersky, 1979), as well as the economic ramifications (e.g., Corcoran, 1978; Ferber and Birnbaum, 1980; Gronau, 1977; Strober, 1977). However, a careful review of the research revealed several deficiencies. These are the following: (a) contradictory research findings with regard to whether significant differences exist between working versus nonworking wives in their lifestyles and consumption behaviors; (b) with few exceptions, most research studies focused on only one aspect of consumptive behavior (e.g., purchase or shopping); and (c) prior rcscarch lacked a longitudinal framework. never establishing the stability or instability of psychographic and behavioral profile differences between working versus nonworking wives. The stability notion takes on additional merit when one notes that the 1970s and early 1980s were a time of high inflation, a situation currently not existing. Furthermore, it was not until the 1970s and early 1980s that the importance of the increasing numbers of working women was realized by marketers, and marketing efforts were adjusted accordingly (e.g., advertising, convenience goods and stores). In this article, we address these research issues in the context of a food consumption system via the psychographic profiles of working versus nonworking wives. For the present purposes, the food consumption system was conceptualized as being made up of the activities, interests, and opinions associated with food purchase, preparation. and consumption. In focusing on the longitudinal aspects, it is unclear to us as to what may have happened to working versus nonworking women’s psychographic profiles over time. Three possible developmental trends, each with distinctly different implications, can be postulated. First, it is feasible that the psychographic profiles of working and nonworking wives may converge over a period of time. This convergence may be due to sociological changes in society’s perception of females and their role in the U.S. family irrespective of employment status. The women’s liberation movement and related family member roles exemplify trends in this direction. Additionally, it may be that marketers’ efforts aimed at working women during the past decade, emphasizing attributes such as convenience and other time-saving features of their products and services, may appeal to nonworking females as well, thereby contributing to a converging trend of consumption related lifestyles. Alternately, one may postulate that the lifestyles of these two distinct segments of female population may diverge: the source of divergence stemming from the traditional explanation of time pressures and economic status differences. Also, over time, these factors may be expected to intensify the divergence trend via working wives’ promotion in the work environment and concomitant increases in job responsibilities and financial remunerations. The third plausible development postulates consistent differences in the food consumption psychographic profiles between the working versus nonworking wives over time. The differences may parallel over time in spite of the converging and diverging trends postulated above or, possibly, because of the length of time required in order to detect convergence or divergence.
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Given the intuitive appeal of each of the above postulated trends in working versus nonworking women’s food consumption system psychographic profiles, no specific hypotheses were derived. As such, the present study is exploratory in nature, seeking to longitudinally examine differences between working versus nonworking women in their psychographic profiles related to food purchase, preparation, and consumption.
Background The possibility of any differences between working and nonworking wives was made salient to marketers by the publication of articles by Bartos (1977, 1978) and McCall (1977). These authors presented evidence suggesting disparities between working versus nonworking wives in terms of economic, shopping, and purchaserelated differences. Of particular pertinence for this article, McCall reported that working wives shopped less often, shopped more often in the late afternoons and evening, were more likely to delegate shopping tasks to other members of their family, and emphasized different attributes in store selection when compared to their nonworking counterparts. Bartos (1977) even found differences between those women planning on entering the labor force versus those planning on staying at home, as well as differences between those working women who were more career oriented versus those who worked mainly for the additional income. In this respect, Bartos found differences not only based upon the employment status of women but also contingent upon their underlying motives and/or future expectations. The global scope of the McCall (1977) and Bartos (1977, 1978) investigations was soon followed by more detailed examinations of the differences between working and nonworking wives. More specifically, researchers began to examine the acquisition/ownership of timesaving goods and services as coping strategies to restore leisure time. The underlying notion, originally proposed by Becker (1965) in economics, was that the additional income and increased time pressures for household production might result in working women using more timesaving goods and/ or services than nonworking women. Furthermore, for comparable reasons, differences in shopping patterns, store choice, and patronage patterns were also posited. Strober and Weinberg (1977) investigated the effects of married women’s labor force participation on the ownership of and expenditure on major durable goods. Their findings indicated that the employment status of the wife was not a significant predictor of durable ownership nor expenditures once other factors were taken into account (i.e., total family income, net assets, family life cycle stage, recent move). This finding occurred irrespective of whether the durables were timesaving (e.g., dishwasher) or ordinary (e.g., television): Combined family income tended to be the best single predictor of both durable ownership and expenditures. These results were also found for hobby and recreational items, vacations, and college education decisions and expenditures. Similar findings for major capital durables have been shown in other studies (Nickels and Fox, 1983; Strober and Weinberg, 1980; Weinberg and Winer, 1983), suggesting that marketers should not be overly concerned about the employment status of the wife once the impact of her contribution to total family income is taken into account. Bellante and Foster (1984), in examining the impact of wives’ employment status
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on service expenditures, found that for meals purchased away from home, child care, and total services, wives employed full-time tended to spend more than nonworking wives. This finding, contrary to studies examining capital intensive durable goods, existed even when other demographic factors (e.g., income) were taken into account. In a related study, Nickels and Fox (1983) found that expenditures were higher for working wives, as compared to nonworking wives for food purchased away from home, disposable diapers, and child care. Even though the working wife may prepare fewer meals at home, possibly because of being at work, Nickels and Fox reported that working and nonworking wives prepared the same quality and quantity of food items for meals served at home. Finally, these authors also found that the wife’s time spent in housework, care of family members, and leisure activities was negatively impacted if she was employed. Reilly (1982) reported that “working-wife families were not significantly greater consumers of convenience foods, nor were they more likely to own convenience durables” (p. 414). Rather, it appeared that the wife’s perception of role overload or pressure mediated, albeit weakly, the relationship between employment status and ownership of convenience durables. However, the same relationship was not significant for convenience food consumption. Once again, combined family income, regardless of the number of sources, appeared to have the greatest impact upon convenience goods ownership and consumption. Contrary to Reilly’s findings, Wilson and Holman (1984) found a marginal effect of employment status on convenience food purchases; working wives purchased more convenience items than nonworking wives and working wives employed part-time. The literature examining differences between working and nonworking wives’ food-shopping behaviors has been less extensive than that dealing with purchases. In one of the earlier studies, Roberts and Wortzel (1979) reported that women’s shopping behavior was not affected by their employment status. Holman and Wilson (1982) found no difference in convenience store shopping behavior between working and nonworking women. However, they did report, consistent with McCall (1977), that working women were more likely to take advantage of low-volume and late afternoons) than nonworking women. shopping hours (e.g., evenings Furthermore, these authors found that working wives made more “filler trips” to pick up a few or forgotten items and purchased a higher percentage of nonfood items when shopping at the supermarket than did nonworking women (Wilson and Holman, 1984). In addition, other members of the working wives’ families made more trips to the supermarket than nonworking wives’ family members; results consistent with Arndt and Gronmo’s (1977) finding that individuals with an employed spouse, regardless of gender, spent more time shopping than those with a nonworking spouse and with McCall’s (1977) finding that working wives were more likely to delegate shopping to other family members than nonworking wives. In one of the most extensive studies of food shopping and demographics, Zeitham1 (1985), somewhat contradictory to Wilson and Holman’s (1984) number of “filler trips” finding, reported that working women spent more dollars per trip to the supermarket than nonworking women while visiting fewer supermarkets per week. No differences were found in the number of minutes spent shopping per trip nor in the number of weekly shopping trips. Zeithaml also reported that nonworking women were more likely to plan their food shopping, utilize information both prior to and during their shopping trip in making choices, and engage in economizing
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by budgeting, using coupons, comparing prices, and shopping for store specials. Working women’s attitudes toward food shopping were also more negative than those of nonworking women. However, no differences in attitudes were found between the two groups when they were queried about the time required for food shopping. Jackson et al. (1985) also reported that working wives disliked food shopping more than nonworking wives. However, this dislike of food shopping appeared to be heavily influenced by the amount of time required for food shopping. Although earlier studies revealed minimal differences in convenience food purchases, Jackson et al. reported that working women preferred serving meals at home that could be prepared quickly, hence, saving preparation and, to some extent, cleanup time. When compared to nonworking wives, working wives also showed less concern for their family’s health and food tastes. In summary, working women tend to be similar to nonworking women in durable goods ownership and expenditures, once other factors such as income are taken into account. However, for certain services and, especially, eating out at restaurants, working women appear to substitute their income for their labor. Differential results have been found for convenience food purchases between working wives and nonworking wives. Likewise, the impact of employment status on shopping behaviors tends to be equivocal, although one could conclude that working wives shop at different times than nonworking wives, and working wives appear to dislike food shopping more than nonworking wives. This dislike of food shopping may or may not be due to the time required for food shopping. Finally, working wives may spend less time in household production, such as cooking (although this does not necessarily imply any differences in production intensity or efficiency per se) when contrasted with their nonworking counterparts (Gronau, 1977; Nickels and Fox, 1983; Strober and Weinberg, 1980).
Research
Scope The present study examines the possibility that psychographic differences (or the lack thereof) found between working and nonworking wives in previous studies may be due to longitudinal factors (e.g., economic conditions, marketing efforts). Independent data were collected in 1980. a period of high inflation, and again in 1986, a period of relatively low inflation, from representative samples of the same population. Psychographics were chosen as the dependent variable because of the inherent biases in self-reported behavioral data, the problems inherent in collecting actual behavioral data, and the paucity of previous research examining this aspect in detail. Furthermore, the scope of present study was limited to married women; previous research examining purchasing, shopping, and attitudes may be clouded because of dissimilar samples (i.e., women versus wives). The final design was a 2 (employment status: working versus nonworking) x 2 (collection year: 1980 versus 1986) factorial design examining psychographic differences in food purchase, preparation, and consumption. Because of the differential results found in other studies that allowed factors other than employment status to enter into the models, covariates were utilized in the present study. Through the use of MANCOVAs and ANCOVAs, significant employment status x year interactions would lend credence to the convergence or divergence pos-
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tulates stated in the introduction. Significant employment status main effects would lend support to the parallel postulate, while significant year main effects would elucidate general psychographic trends for married women.
Method Data for this study were gathered from members of the Arkansas Household Research Panel (AHRP) using mail surveys. Panel members are selected annually such that the panel is representative of the state on key demographic variables. Identical questionnaires were mailed to the 750 households comprising the AHRP in both January 1980 and 1986. The member of the household who engaged in most of the food purchase and preparation was requested to complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire dealt, in general, with the food shopping, preparation, and consumption patterns of the household. One section of the questionnaire, relevant for this study, addressed the respondents’ activities, interests, and opinions concerning the various aspects involved in food shopping, preparation, and consumption. The 30 items in this section were generated from focus group interviews with women and from secondary sources (e.g., Guiltinan and Monroe, 1978; Roberts and Wortzel, 1979) and are consistent with recent investigations of grocery products and shopping patterns (Jackson et al., 1985; Zeithaml, 1985) 1985). Individuals responded to the items using 6-point Likert scales anchored by “strongly disagree” (1) and “strongly agree” (6). The AHRP supplied the demographic information on each household. Sample Comparisons Respectively, 653 and 590 questionnaires were returned in 1980 and 1986, for response rates of 87% and 79%. Combining the two samples, 774 females were married and self-classified themselves as either employed or housespouses (62%). Significantly more wives reported being employed as compared to housespouse in 1986 (64.55%) than in 1980 (57.61%), x’(l) = 3.87, p < 0.05; findings corresponding to national (see Assael, 1987) and state figures. Because of nonresponse errors on critical variables in the study, 22% (170) of the respondents were eliminated from the analyses, leaving a final sample of 310 from the 1980 survey and 294 from the 1986 survey. Using the final sample of 604 married women, analyses revealed (all p’s < 0.05) that the 1986 sample was older (means: 1980 = 41.92, 1986 = 45.50), had fewer children (means: 1980 = 1.24, 1986 = .95), and had a higher combined family income (means: 1980 = 28,727.19, 1986 = 32,372.82) when compared to the 1980 sample. Working wives, as compared to nonworking wives, had more years of formal education (means: nonworking = 13.14, working = 13.73), were younger (means: nonworking = 45.42, working = 42.00), and had fewer children (means: nonworking = 1.26, working = .94).
Results Psychographic
Dimensions
Using the 1980 and 1986 samples independently, the 30 psychographic items were initially submitted to factor analyses (varimax rotation) restricting the eigenvalues
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to values greater than one. Using this procedure, eight factors were found for the 1980 sample and seven factors for the 1986 sample. Both samples were then restricted to seven factors and resubmitted to the factor analyses. Pearson correlations were then calculated based upon the rotated factor loadings for all 30 items, such that each factor in the 1980 sample was compared to each factor in the 1986 sample and vice versa. Correlations ranged from .72 to .97, revealing consistent underlying factor structures for the two samples and, hence, cross-validity. Given this congruency, the samples were combined and resubmitted to a factor analysis with the varimax rotation and the seven-factor restriction. For descriptive purposes, using factor loadings greater than .35, the factors were labeled as shopping, novelty, convenience, responsibility, budget, quality, and health. Factor scores were then computed for each respondent (mean = 0, standard deviation = 1). For the shopping factor, a positive value indicated a dislike for food shopping relative to the average respondent. For the other factors, positive values indicated a propensity in the positive direction (e.g., liked novelty in foods, concerned for convenience). Differences in Working Versus Nonworking
Wives Over Time
A multivariate analysis of covariance for unbalanced designs was utilized for determining differences in the psychographic factors for working versus nonworking women over the 6-year time period. The decision to use the covariates was based of the upon two criteria. First, given the item omissions, the representativeness sample could be violated via the exclusion of respondents. Second, and more important, previous studies have found relatively few differences between working wives and nonworking wives when controlling for other factors such as income (e.g., Nickels and Fox, 1983; Strober and Weinberg, 1977, 1980; Weinberg and Winer, 1983). In the area of food, however, Bellante and Foster (1984) and Nickels and Fox (1983) have reported significant differences between working and nonworking wives for meals purchased away from home even when controlling for other factors. On the other hand, Reilly (1982) found little or no differences between working and nonworking wives in the consumption of convenience foods when controlling for other factors. Therefore, given these results and possibilities, combined family income, number of children residing in the household, and the age and education of the respondent were utilized as covariates. Employment status and data collection year were utilized as independent variables in examining the seven psychographic factors. Through the use of Wilks’ Criterion for the MANCOVA, significant effects were found for the wife’s employment status, F (7, 590) = 2.75, p < 0.05, and data collection year, F(7,590) = 7.53, p < 0.05. No significant status by year interaction was found, F < 1.00. Hence, support was gleaned for the parallel postulate and nonsupport for the convergence and divergence postulates. Given the significant effects, univariate analyses of covariance for unbalanced designs were conducted on each of the seven psychographic factors. The F values associated with these analyses are reported in Table 1. An examination of the beta coefficients associated with the significant covariates revealed that as the wife’s age increased, she was less concerned for novelty, convenience, and budget while being more concerned with health, and she felt
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Table 1. Univariate
T. D. Jensen Analysis
of Covariance
I; Values Psychographic
Sourced
Shopping
Novelty
Education Income No. of children Status Year Status X year
0.76 0.95 0.87 12.64” 4.39h 1.95 0.35
3.65 10.45” 5.59h 0.83 0.05 1.91 0.00
Age
et al.
Convenience 7.95 5.03h 0.42 3.45’ 9.44 16.34 0.43
Factor
Responsibility
Budget
13.65” 3.55 0.36 0.10 0.29 15.97” 4.09h
3.31’ 2.19 15.72” 3.87’ 1.06 0.15 0.54
Quality
Health
0.07 0.19 0.55 3.05 0.01 10.23 0.57
5.05b 8.83” 1.13 1.71 2.97 4.25h 0.01
“p c 0.01. hp < 0.05. &;=“;‘,“iyh
for each source
more responsible for the food purchased, served, and consumed for, in, or by her household. As the wife’s education increased, she was more concerned with novelty and convenience while being less concerned for health, and she felt less responsible for the food purchased, served, and consumed for, in, or by her household. As the combined family income increased, the wife was more interested in novelty and less concerned with food budgets. As the number of children residing in the household increased, the wife tended to dislike shopping more, was less concerned about quality and convenience, and was more concerned about budgeting. The least squares means associated with the main effects of employment status and data collection year are presented in Table 2. As can be seen in Table 2, working wives tended to dislike shopping, be more concerned with convenience, and be less concerned with health issues in the purchase, preparation, and serving of food items than nonworking wives. Relative to 1980, wives in 1986 reported being more concerned with convenience, quality, and health issues related to food items. Furthermore, wives tended to report less personal responsibility and importance in 1986 as compared to 1980 for the food purchased and served to their families and guests. Table 2. Least Squares Means Associated with Significant Status and Data Collection Year for Married Women
Main Effects Employment
Psychograpic Shopping Convenience Health
Factor
Status
Working
Nonworking
,075 ,127 - ,074
-.I06 - 132 ,073 Collection
Convenience Responsibility Quality Health
of Employment
Year
1980
1986
- ,169 .149 -.I34 - ,086
.165 - ,186 .139 .086
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The lack of a significant employment status by year interaction in the MANCOVA seriously questions the validity of the interaction found in the ANCOVA for the responsibility factor, hinting at a spurious effect. Therefore, this interaction was not interpreted. The absence of interactions suggests that, contrary to the intuition that marketing efforts (e.g., convenience foods, advertising) or changing economic conditions might be bridging or widening the gap between the attitudes of working versus nonworking wives related to food (e.g., importance of convenience), the changes in attitudes between 1980 and 1986 for working and nonworking women have paralleled each other. Discussion/Conclusions No support was found in the present study for the propositions that working and nonworking wives’ psychographic profiles related to food purchase, preparation, and consumption may be converging or diverging. Rather, it appears that the psychographic profile similarities and differences have remained parallel over the 6-year period studied. Hence, given the present study, marketers should not differentially alter existing strategies geared toward the two segments. Market offerings and communications targeted toward working and nonworking wives, both independently or jointly, should reflect more convenience, quality, and health aspects while lowering the portrayal of wives’ responsibility for food purchase, preparation, and consumption-steps already being pursued by some firms. The causes of the temporal trends toward convenience, quality, and health, as well as the trend away from personal responsibility found in this study, are not discernible. These trends may be due, for example, to changing economic conditions, marketing efforts, general sociological changes, or some combination. Nonetheless, marketers need to monitor these trends and anticipate changes in the future (Blackwell and Talarzyk, 1983) especially given the decrease in demand growth for food products (Bucklin, 1980). The differences found between working and nonworking wives in the present study for shopping, convenience, and health factors appear to be relatively stable over time. However, the temporal duration of the study or the sample sizes may have disguised any gradual differential trends. The finding that working wives dislike shopping to a greater extent than nonworking wives has been found in previous studies (Jackson et al., 1985; Zeithaml, 1985). The present study, as with Jackson et al., suggests that this dislike may be due to the perceived time involved in shopping as compared to the actual time spent wherein no differences are found (Zeithaml, 1985). This suggestion is consistent with the notion of the additional time pressures felt by working as opposed to nonworking wives. Furthermore, the lack of any attitudinal differences related to time spent shopping by Zeithaml(l985) versus the present study and Jackson et al. study may be due to different samples (Zeithaml’s sample includes all women, married or single). Finally, although working wives appear to dislike food shopping more than nonworking wives, when combined with other research findings, this dislike does not appear to result in changes in store type selections (Holman and Wilson, 1984) but rather in shopping times (Holman and Wilson, 1982; McCall, 1977), number of stores shopped (Zeithaml, 1985), assortments purchased and amount spent per store (Wilson and Hol-
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man, 1984; Zeithaml, 1985), utilization of other family members for food shopping (McCall, 1977; Wilson and Holman, 1984), and preshopping and actual shopping behaviors (Zeithaml, 1985). The increased importance of convenience for working as opposed to nonworking wives found in the present study suggests that the resultant coping strategy may be to patronize restaurants more (Bellante and Foster, 1984; Nickels and Fox, 1983) while possibly purchasing slightly more convenience food items (see Nickels and Fox, 1983; Reilly, 1982; Wilson and Holman, 1984), primarily in terms of preparation activities, and altering store choices but not store type choices (see above paragraph). Furthermore, the working wives’ lowered concern for health and nutritional aspects, when contrasted to those of nonworking wives, may be due to time requirements in information acquisition and planning (Zeithaml, 198s). These conjectures, as well as those concerning food shopping and convenience, strongly implicate the moderating role that psychographic factors may have in identifying and explaining differences in working versus nonworking wives’ consumptive behaviors. Research examining this linkage in addition to socioeconomic and demographic factors is warranted. As with any study, the present study possesses limitations, each calling for future research. First, as previously noted, the present study focused upon psychographic profiles related to the food consumption system. Future studies should explore the longitudinal aspects of actual behaviors (e.g., shopping, purchase, expenditures) as well as focus on alternative product categories both psychographically and behaviorally (e.g., convenience durables). Second, longitudinal studies are warranted that track the same individuals over time with possible concomitant employment status changes, as opposed to independent samples as used in this study. Third, more categories of employment status (e.g., part-time, career versus “just a job,” low- versus high-occupational workwives) would provide additional insights. Similarly, more studies are needed that identify differences between working and nonworking women using more breakdowns of marital status (e.g., single, divorced). Finally, the population from which the sample was drawn represents only one state. It is feasible, even with the use of covariates, that the present results may not generalize to the nation as a whole. The continued growth of the absolute number of women entering the labor force as well as percentage of women working make them a viable target market. Only through the systematic investigation of similarities and differences between those working versus not working, using measures and techniques appropriate for practitioners as well as academicians, can marketing strategies and efforts be appropriately developed. Continued research in this area represents a service to both marketing knowledge and practice as well as to the consumer.
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Working Versus Nonworking Wives’ Psychographic Profiles A Longitudinal Thomas
Analysis
D. Jensen
C. P. Rao Randy
Hilton
University of Arkansas
This article examines the proposition that working and nonworking wives’ psychographic profiles related to the purchase, preparation, and consumption of food items may have changed during the recent years. With the use of economic conditions, marketing efforts, and general sociological changes during the past few years, postulates are developed that suggest converging, diverging, or paralleling psychographical profiles. With the use of data collected in 1980 and 1986, these postulates are examined and implications provided accordingly. Introduction During the 1970s and early 1980s consumer markets in the United States were characterized by volatile environmental changes and, consequently, consumer lifestyle changes. One of the more dramatic of these changes was the ever increasing proportion of women in the labor force. Between 1950 and 1974, the number of women in the labor force nearly doubled. In 1975, the labor force increased by 1.5 million, of which 1.1 million were women. In 1980, 45.6 million women were employed outside the home. In 1986, the number was up to 49 million; 70% of women between 25 and 54 years of age were gainfully employed. Similarly, the percentage of married women participating in the labor force has grown from 24% in 1950 to 55% in 1985, with projections for 1995 estimating that 65% of the married women will be employed outside of the home (see Assael, 1987, p. 235). It is axiomatic that such dramatic.changes in women’s labor force participation have concurrently brought about changes in their familial roles and consumption behavior. It wasn’t until the mid-1970s that empirical studies began to emerge that attempted to explicate the impact of wives’ employment status on consumption be-
Address correspondence to: Thomas D. Jensen, Marketing Department, tration, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701.
Journal of Business Research 19, 255-265 (1989) Q 1989 Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc. 655 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10010
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haviors; research in the area revolved around the premise of working wives’ coping strategies in handling fewer hours for household tasks and leisure. These studies addressed the differences between working and nonworking wives in the acquisition of goods and services (e.g., Bellante and Foster, 1983; Nickels and Fox, 1983; Reilly, 1982; Strober and Weinberg, 1977, 1980; Weinberg and Winer, 1983), retail shopping (e.g., Berry, 1979; Holman and Wilson, 1982; Jackson et al., 1985; Wilson and Holman, 1984; Zeithaml, 1985) and media usage (e.g., Douglas, 1976, 1977; Venkatesh and Tankersky, 1979), as well as the economic ramifications (e.g., Corcoran, 1978; Ferber and Birnbaum, 1980; Gronau, 1977; Strober, 1977). However, a careful review of the research revealed several deficiencies. These are the following: (a) contradictory research findings with regard to whether significant differences exist between working versus nonworking wives in their lifestyles and consumption behaviors; (b) with few exceptions, most research studies focused on only one aspect of consumptive behavior (e.g., purchase or shopping); and (c) prior rcscarch lacked a longitudinal framework. never establishing the stability or instability of psychographic and behavioral profile differences between working versus nonworking wives. The stability notion takes on additional merit when one notes that the 1970s and early 1980s were a time of high inflation, a situation currently not existing. Furthermore, it was not until the 1970s and early 1980s that the importance of the increasing numbers of working women was realized by marketers, and marketing efforts were adjusted accordingly (e.g., advertising, convenience goods and stores). In this article, we address these research issues in the context of a food consumption system via the psychographic profiles of working versus nonworking wives. For the present purposes, the food consumption system was conceptualized as being made up of the activities, interests, and opinions associated with food purchase, preparation. and consumption. In focusing on the longitudinal aspects, it is unclear to us as to what may have happened to working versus nonworking women’s psychographic profiles over time. Three possible developmental trends, each with distinctly different implications, can be postulated. First, it is feasible that the psychographic profiles of working and nonworking wives may converge over a period of time. This convergence may be due to sociological changes in society’s perception of females and their role in the U.S. family irrespective of employment status. The women’s liberation movement and related family member roles exemplify trends in this direction. Additionally, it may be that marketers’ efforts aimed at working women during the past decade, emphasizing attributes such as convenience and other time-saving features of their products and services, may appeal to nonworking females as well, thereby contributing to a converging trend of consumption related lifestyles. Alternately, one may postulate that the lifestyles of these two distinct segments of female population may diverge: the source of divergence stemming from the traditional explanation of time pressures and economic status differences. Also, over time, these factors may be expected to intensify the divergence trend via working wives’ promotion in the work environment and concomitant increases in job responsibilities and financial remunerations. The third plausible development postulates consistent differences in the food consumption psychographic profiles between the working versus nonworking wives over time. The differences may parallel over time in spite of the converging and diverging trends postulated above or, possibly, because of the length of time required in order to detect convergence or divergence.
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Given the intuitive appeal of each of the above postulated trends in working versus nonworking women’s food consumption system psychographic profiles, no specific hypotheses were derived. As such, the present study is exploratory in nature, seeking to longitudinally examine differences between working versus nonworking women in their psychographic profiles related to food purchase, preparation, and consumption.
Background The possibility of any differences between working and nonworking wives was made salient to marketers by the publication of articles by Bartos (1977, 1978) and McCall (1977). These authors presented evidence suggesting disparities between working versus nonworking wives in terms of economic, shopping, and purchaserelated differences. Of particular pertinence for this article, McCall reported that working wives shopped less often, shopped more often in the late afternoons and evening, were more likely to delegate shopping tasks to other members of their family, and emphasized different attributes in store selection when compared to their nonworking counterparts. Bartos (1977) even found differences between those women planning on entering the labor force versus those planning on staying at home, as well as differences between those working women who were more career oriented versus those who worked mainly for the additional income. In this respect, Bartos found differences not only based upon the employment status of women but also contingent upon their underlying motives and/or future expectations. The global scope of the McCall (1977) and Bartos (1977, 1978) investigations was soon followed by more detailed examinations of the differences between working and nonworking wives. More specifically, researchers began to examine the acquisition/ownership of timesaving goods and services as coping strategies to restore leisure time. The underlying notion, originally proposed by Becker (1965) in economics, was that the additional income and increased time pressures for household production might result in working women using more timesaving goods and/ or services than nonworking women. Furthermore, for comparable reasons, differences in shopping patterns, store choice, and patronage patterns were also posited. Strober and Weinberg (1977) investigated the effects of married women’s labor force participation on the ownership of and expenditure on major durable goods. Their findings indicated that the employment status of the wife was not a significant predictor of durable ownership nor expenditures once other factors were taken into account (i.e., total family income, net assets, family life cycle stage, recent move). This finding occurred irrespective of whether the durables were timesaving (e.g., dishwasher) or ordinary (e.g., television): Combined family income tended to be the best single predictor of both durable ownership and expenditures. These results were also found for hobby and recreational items, vacations, and college education decisions and expenditures. Similar findings for major capital durables have been shown in other studies (Nickels and Fox, 1983; Strober and Weinberg, 1980; Weinberg and Winer, 1983), suggesting that marketers should not be overly concerned about the employment status of the wife once the impact of her contribution to total family income is taken into account. Bellante and Foster (1984), in examining the impact of wives’ employment status
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on service expenditures, found that for meals purchased away from home, child care, and total services, wives employed full-time tended to spend more than nonworking wives. This finding, contrary to studies examining capital intensive durable goods, existed even when other demographic factors (e.g., income) were taken into account. In a related study, Nickels and Fox (1983) found that expenditures were higher for working wives, as compared to nonworking wives for food purchased away from home, disposable diapers, and child care. Even though the working wife may prepare fewer meals at home, possibly because of being at work, Nickels and Fox reported that working and nonworking wives prepared the same quality and quantity of food items for meals served at home. Finally, these authors also found that the wife’s time spent in housework, care of family members, and leisure activities was negatively impacted if she was employed. Reilly (1982) reported that “working-wife families were not significantly greater consumers of convenience foods, nor were they more likely to own convenience durables” (p. 414). Rather, it appeared that the wife’s perception of role overload or pressure mediated, albeit weakly, the relationship between employment status and ownership of convenience durables. However, the same relationship was not significant for convenience food consumption. Once again, combined family income, regardless of the number of sources, appeared to have the greatest impact upon convenience goods ownership and consumption. Contrary to Reilly’s findings, Wilson and Holman (1984) found a marginal effect of employment status on convenience food purchases; working wives purchased more convenience items than nonworking wives and working wives employed part-time. The literature examining differences between working and nonworking wives’ food-shopping behaviors has been less extensive than that dealing with purchases. In one of the earlier studies, Roberts and Wortzel (1979) reported that women’s shopping behavior was not affected by their employment status. Holman and Wilson (1982) found no difference in convenience store shopping behavior between working and nonworking women. However, they did report, consistent with McCall (1977), that working women were more likely to take advantage of low-volume and late afternoons) than nonworking women. shopping hours (e.g., evenings Furthermore, these authors found that working wives made more “filler trips” to pick up a few or forgotten items and purchased a higher percentage of nonfood items when shopping at the supermarket than did nonworking women (Wilson and Holman, 1984). In addition, other members of the working wives’ families made more trips to the supermarket than nonworking wives’ family members; results consistent with Arndt and Gronmo’s (1977) finding that individuals with an employed spouse, regardless of gender, spent more time shopping than those with a nonworking spouse and with McCall’s (1977) finding that working wives were more likely to delegate shopping to other family members than nonworking wives. In one of the most extensive studies of food shopping and demographics, Zeitham1 (1985), somewhat contradictory to Wilson and Holman’s (1984) number of “filler trips” finding, reported that working women spent more dollars per trip to the supermarket than nonworking women while visiting fewer supermarkets per week. No differences were found in the number of minutes spent shopping per trip nor in the number of weekly shopping trips. Zeithaml also reported that nonworking women were more likely to plan their food shopping, utilize information both prior to and during their shopping trip in making choices, and engage in economizing
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by budgeting, using coupons, comparing prices, and shopping for store specials. Working women’s attitudes toward food shopping were also more negative than those of nonworking women. However, no differences in attitudes were found between the two groups when they were queried about the time required for food shopping. Jackson et al. (1985) also reported that working wives disliked food shopping more than nonworking wives. However, this dislike of food shopping appeared to be heavily influenced by the amount of time required for food shopping. Although earlier studies revealed minimal differences in convenience food purchases, Jackson et al. reported that working women preferred serving meals at home that could be prepared quickly, hence, saving preparation and, to some extent, cleanup time. When compared to nonworking wives, working wives also showed less concern for their family’s health and food tastes. In summary, working women tend to be similar to nonworking women in durable goods ownership and expenditures, once other factors such as income are taken into account. However, for certain services and, especially, eating out at restaurants, working women appear to substitute their income for their labor. Differential results have been found for convenience food purchases between working wives and nonworking wives. Likewise, the impact of employment status on shopping behaviors tends to be equivocal, although one could conclude that working wives shop at different times than nonworking wives, and working wives appear to dislike food shopping more than nonworking wives. This dislike of food shopping may or may not be due to the time required for food shopping. Finally, working wives may spend less time in household production, such as cooking (although this does not necessarily imply any differences in production intensity or efficiency per se) when contrasted with their nonworking counterparts (Gronau, 1977; Nickels and Fox, 1983; Strober and Weinberg, 1980).
Research
Scope The present study examines the possibility that psychographic differences (or the lack thereof) found between working and nonworking wives in previous studies may be due to longitudinal factors (e.g., economic conditions, marketing efforts). Independent data were collected in 1980. a period of high inflation, and again in 1986, a period of relatively low inflation, from representative samples of the same population. Psychographics were chosen as the dependent variable because of the inherent biases in self-reported behavioral data, the problems inherent in collecting actual behavioral data, and the paucity of previous research examining this aspect in detail. Furthermore, the scope of present study was limited to married women; previous research examining purchasing, shopping, and attitudes may be clouded because of dissimilar samples (i.e., women versus wives). The final design was a 2 (employment status: working versus nonworking) x 2 (collection year: 1980 versus 1986) factorial design examining psychographic differences in food purchase, preparation, and consumption. Because of the differential results found in other studies that allowed factors other than employment status to enter into the models, covariates were utilized in the present study. Through the use of MANCOVAs and ANCOVAs, significant employment status x year interactions would lend credence to the convergence or divergence pos-
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tulates stated in the introduction. Significant employment status main effects would lend support to the parallel postulate, while significant year main effects would elucidate general psychographic trends for married women.
Method Data for this study were gathered from members of the Arkansas Household Research Panel (AHRP) using mail surveys. Panel members are selected annually such that the panel is representative of the state on key demographic variables. Identical questionnaires were mailed to the 750 households comprising the AHRP in both January 1980 and 1986. The member of the household who engaged in most of the food purchase and preparation was requested to complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire dealt, in general, with the food shopping, preparation, and consumption patterns of the household. One section of the questionnaire, relevant for this study, addressed the respondents’ activities, interests, and opinions concerning the various aspects involved in food shopping, preparation, and consumption. The 30 items in this section were generated from focus group interviews with women and from secondary sources (e.g., Guiltinan and Monroe, 1978; Roberts and Wortzel, 1979) and are consistent with recent investigations of grocery products and shopping patterns (Jackson et al., 1985; Zeithaml, 1985) 1985). Individuals responded to the items using 6-point Likert scales anchored by “strongly disagree” (1) and “strongly agree” (6). The AHRP supplied the demographic information on each household. Sample Comparisons Respectively, 653 and 590 questionnaires were returned in 1980 and 1986, for response rates of 87% and 79%. Combining the two samples, 774 females were married and self-classified themselves as either employed or housespouses (62%). Significantly more wives reported being employed as compared to housespouse in 1986 (64.55%) than in 1980 (57.61%), x’(l) = 3.87, p < 0.05; findings corresponding to national (see Assael, 1987) and state figures. Because of nonresponse errors on critical variables in the study, 22% (170) of the respondents were eliminated from the analyses, leaving a final sample of 310 from the 1980 survey and 294 from the 1986 survey. Using the final sample of 604 married women, analyses revealed (all p’s < 0.05) that the 1986 sample was older (means: 1980 = 41.92, 1986 = 45.50), had fewer children (means: 1980 = 1.24, 1986 = .95), and had a higher combined family income (means: 1980 = 28,727.19, 1986 = 32,372.82) when compared to the 1980 sample. Working wives, as compared to nonworking wives, had more years of formal education (means: nonworking = 13.14, working = 13.73), were younger (means: nonworking = 45.42, working = 42.00), and had fewer children (means: nonworking = 1.26, working = .94).
Results Psychographic
Dimensions
Using the 1980 and 1986 samples independently, the 30 psychographic items were initially submitted to factor analyses (varimax rotation) restricting the eigenvalues
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to values greater than one. Using this procedure, eight factors were found for the 1980 sample and seven factors for the 1986 sample. Both samples were then restricted to seven factors and resubmitted to the factor analyses. Pearson correlations were then calculated based upon the rotated factor loadings for all 30 items, such that each factor in the 1980 sample was compared to each factor in the 1986 sample and vice versa. Correlations ranged from .72 to .97, revealing consistent underlying factor structures for the two samples and, hence, cross-validity. Given this congruency, the samples were combined and resubmitted to a factor analysis with the varimax rotation and the seven-factor restriction. For descriptive purposes, using factor loadings greater than .35, the factors were labeled as shopping, novelty, convenience, responsibility, budget, quality, and health. Factor scores were then computed for each respondent (mean = 0, standard deviation = 1). For the shopping factor, a positive value indicated a dislike for food shopping relative to the average respondent. For the other factors, positive values indicated a propensity in the positive direction (e.g., liked novelty in foods, concerned for convenience). Differences in Working Versus Nonworking
Wives Over Time
A multivariate analysis of covariance for unbalanced designs was utilized for determining differences in the psychographic factors for working versus nonworking women over the 6-year time period. The decision to use the covariates was based of the upon two criteria. First, given the item omissions, the representativeness sample could be violated via the exclusion of respondents. Second, and more important, previous studies have found relatively few differences between working wives and nonworking wives when controlling for other factors such as income (e.g., Nickels and Fox, 1983; Strober and Weinberg, 1977, 1980; Weinberg and Winer, 1983). In the area of food, however, Bellante and Foster (1984) and Nickels and Fox (1983) have reported significant differences between working and nonworking wives for meals purchased away from home even when controlling for other factors. On the other hand, Reilly (1982) found little or no differences between working and nonworking wives in the consumption of convenience foods when controlling for other factors. Therefore, given these results and possibilities, combined family income, number of children residing in the household, and the age and education of the respondent were utilized as covariates. Employment status and data collection year were utilized as independent variables in examining the seven psychographic factors. Through the use of Wilks’ Criterion for the MANCOVA, significant effects were found for the wife’s employment status, F (7, 590) = 2.75, p < 0.05, and data collection year, F(7,590) = 7.53, p < 0.05. No significant status by year interaction was found, F < 1.00. Hence, support was gleaned for the parallel postulate and nonsupport for the convergence and divergence postulates. Given the significant effects, univariate analyses of covariance for unbalanced designs were conducted on each of the seven psychographic factors. The F values associated with these analyses are reported in Table 1. An examination of the beta coefficients associated with the significant covariates revealed that as the wife’s age increased, she was less concerned for novelty, convenience, and budget while being more concerned with health, and she felt
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Table 1. Univariate
T. D. Jensen Analysis
of Covariance
I; Values Psychographic
Sourced
Shopping
Novelty
Education Income No. of children Status Year Status X year
0.76 0.95 0.87 12.64” 4.39h 1.95 0.35
3.65 10.45” 5.59h 0.83 0.05 1.91 0.00
Age
et al.
Convenience 7.95 5.03h 0.42 3.45’ 9.44 16.34 0.43
Factor
Responsibility
Budget
13.65” 3.55 0.36 0.10 0.29 15.97” 4.09h
3.31’ 2.19 15.72” 3.87’ 1.06 0.15 0.54
Quality
Health
0.07 0.19 0.55 3.05 0.01 10.23 0.57
5.05b 8.83” 1.13 1.71 2.97 4.25h 0.01
“p c 0.01. hp < 0.05. &;=“;‘,“iyh
for each source
more responsible for the food purchased, served, and consumed for, in, or by her household. As the wife’s education increased, she was more concerned with novelty and convenience while being less concerned for health, and she felt less responsible for the food purchased, served, and consumed for, in, or by her household. As the combined family income increased, the wife was more interested in novelty and less concerned with food budgets. As the number of children residing in the household increased, the wife tended to dislike shopping more, was less concerned about quality and convenience, and was more concerned about budgeting. The least squares means associated with the main effects of employment status and data collection year are presented in Table 2. As can be seen in Table 2, working wives tended to dislike shopping, be more concerned with convenience, and be less concerned with health issues in the purchase, preparation, and serving of food items than nonworking wives. Relative to 1980, wives in 1986 reported being more concerned with convenience, quality, and health issues related to food items. Furthermore, wives tended to report less personal responsibility and importance in 1986 as compared to 1980 for the food purchased and served to their families and guests. Table 2. Least Squares Means Associated with Significant Status and Data Collection Year for Married Women
Main Effects Employment
Psychograpic Shopping Convenience Health
Factor
Status
Working
Nonworking
,075 ,127 - ,074
-.I06 - 132 ,073 Collection
Convenience Responsibility Quality Health
of Employment
Year
1980
1986
- ,169 .149 -.I34 - ,086
.165 - ,186 .139 .086
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The lack of a significant employment status by year interaction in the MANCOVA seriously questions the validity of the interaction found in the ANCOVA for the responsibility factor, hinting at a spurious effect. Therefore, this interaction was not interpreted. The absence of interactions suggests that, contrary to the intuition that marketing efforts (e.g., convenience foods, advertising) or changing economic conditions might be bridging or widening the gap between the attitudes of working versus nonworking wives related to food (e.g., importance of convenience), the changes in attitudes between 1980 and 1986 for working and nonworking women have paralleled each other. Discussion/Conclusions No support was found in the present study for the propositions that working and nonworking wives’ psychographic profiles related to food purchase, preparation, and consumption may be converging or diverging. Rather, it appears that the psychographic profile similarities and differences have remained parallel over the 6-year period studied. Hence, given the present study, marketers should not differentially alter existing strategies geared toward the two segments. Market offerings and communications targeted toward working and nonworking wives, both independently or jointly, should reflect more convenience, quality, and health aspects while lowering the portrayal of wives’ responsibility for food purchase, preparation, and consumption-steps already being pursued by some firms. The causes of the temporal trends toward convenience, quality, and health, as well as the trend away from personal responsibility found in this study, are not discernible. These trends may be due, for example, to changing economic conditions, marketing efforts, general sociological changes, or some combination. Nonetheless, marketers need to monitor these trends and anticipate changes in the future (Blackwell and Talarzyk, 1983) especially given the decrease in demand growth for food products (Bucklin, 1980). The differences found between working and nonworking wives in the present study for shopping, convenience, and health factors appear to be relatively stable over time. However, the temporal duration of the study or the sample sizes may have disguised any gradual differential trends. The finding that working wives dislike shopping to a greater extent than nonworking wives has been found in previous studies (Jackson et al., 1985; Zeithaml, 1985). The present study, as with Jackson et al., suggests that this dislike may be due to the perceived time involved in shopping as compared to the actual time spent wherein no differences are found (Zeithaml, 1985). This suggestion is consistent with the notion of the additional time pressures felt by working as opposed to nonworking wives. Furthermore, the lack of any attitudinal differences related to time spent shopping by Zeithaml(l985) versus the present study and Jackson et al. study may be due to different samples (Zeithaml’s sample includes all women, married or single). Finally, although working wives appear to dislike food shopping more than nonworking wives, when combined with other research findings, this dislike does not appear to result in changes in store type selections (Holman and Wilson, 1984) but rather in shopping times (Holman and Wilson, 1982; McCall, 1977), number of stores shopped (Zeithaml, 1985), assortments purchased and amount spent per store (Wilson and Hol-
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man, 1984; Zeithaml, 1985), utilization of other family members for food shopping (McCall, 1977; Wilson and Holman, 1984), and preshopping and actual shopping behaviors (Zeithaml, 1985). The increased importance of convenience for working as opposed to nonworking wives found in the present study suggests that the resultant coping strategy may be to patronize restaurants more (Bellante and Foster, 1984; Nickels and Fox, 1983) while possibly purchasing slightly more convenience food items (see Nickels and Fox, 1983; Reilly, 1982; Wilson and Holman, 1984), primarily in terms of preparation activities, and altering store choices but not store type choices (see above paragraph). Furthermore, the working wives’ lowered concern for health and nutritional aspects, when contrasted to those of nonworking wives, may be due to time requirements in information acquisition and planning (Zeithaml, 198s). These conjectures, as well as those concerning food shopping and convenience, strongly implicate the moderating role that psychographic factors may have in identifying and explaining differences in working versus nonworking wives’ consumptive behaviors. Research examining this linkage in addition to socioeconomic and demographic factors is warranted. As with any study, the present study possesses limitations, each calling for future research. First, as previously noted, the present study focused upon psychographic profiles related to the food consumption system. Future studies should explore the longitudinal aspects of actual behaviors (e.g., shopping, purchase, expenditures) as well as focus on alternative product categories both psychographically and behaviorally (e.g., convenience durables). Second, longitudinal studies are warranted that track the same individuals over time with possible concomitant employment status changes, as opposed to independent samples as used in this study. Third, more categories of employment status (e.g., part-time, career versus “just a job,” low- versus high-occupational workwives) would provide additional insights. Similarly, more studies are needed that identify differences between working and nonworking women using more breakdowns of marital status (e.g., single, divorced). Finally, the population from which the sample was drawn represents only one state. It is feasible, even with the use of covariates, that the present results may not generalize to the nation as a whole. The continued growth of the absolute number of women entering the labor force as well as percentage of women working make them a viable target market. Only through the systematic investigation of similarities and differences between those working versus not working, using measures and techniques appropriate for practitioners as well as academicians, can marketing strategies and efforts be appropriately developed. Continued research in this area represents a service to both marketing knowledge and practice as well as to the consumer.
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