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Social Reference Group Influence on Women Buying Behaviour: A Review

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DOI: 10.5958/0976-478X.2018.00019.8

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 Journal of Commerce & Management Thought
Vol. 9-2a, 2018, pp 273-291
DOI : 10.5958/0976-478X.2018.00019.8

Social Reference Group Influence on

Women Buying Behaviour: A Review
Semila Fenelly Fernandes, Dr. Rajesh Panda.

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to understand the influences of social reference
group on women buying behaviour and across specific women segments.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper aims to apprehend and review
social reference group influence on women consumer groups based on
publications between 1942 – 2015.
Findings – Women are influenced by Informational reference group,
Utilitarian reference group and Value-expressive reference group though their
influence vary across different women segments. Studies have indicated that
Informational and Utilitarian reference group influence are the most
pervasive amongst women purchases. Women as a segment is more influenced
by reference group compared to men during product and service purchases as
they are more socially connected compared to their male counterparts. Young
working women usually carry out joint decisions with their spouse in
comparison to a housewife where the husband has been the dominant decision
maker. Moreover, some studies revealed that working women across certain
product purchases would also take decisions individually as against

273
274 Journal of Commerce and Management Thought 9 - 2

housewives. Results also indicated that younger women were more

susceptible to reference group influences (their friends’ opinion) as compared
to older women. Conspicuousness of a product also plays a vital role in
reference group influence on women consumer behaviour.
Keywords: social reference groups; group influences; women buying
behaviour; gender

Introduction
The second half of the 20th century depicts the revolution of women as
being involved equally against men in decision-making that has helped them
gain and improve their social prestige (Chiang & Yu, 2010). Hence it becomes
imperative to realize how women consumers take purchase decisions and
examine the influencing factors that act upon them (Singh, N. & Sarvanan, R.
2013).
The objective of this paper is to understand reference group influence on
women buying behaviour based on published academic research papers from
1942 – 2015. The paper is explained in five parts. In the first part, it examines
the role of women in decision-making. Second part discusses the reference
group influence across gender i.e. men versus women. The third part elucidates
the susceptibility of women consumer groups to reference group influence
during product purchases. The subsequent part deals with the reference group
influence of women across age groups. Finally, the review paper concludes
by providing the scope for future research.
Reference group as a term was coined by Hyman where he found that
respondents compared themselves and were influenced by either individuals
or groups (Hyman, 1942). The concept was further refined under behavioural
sciences studies, where-by an individual is expected to be part of a group, or
aspires to belong to or aspires not to be a part of (Stafford, J. 1966). Such
groups which influence consumer decision making are classified into three
forms namely informational, utilitarian and value-expressive (Lessig & Park,
1977). Informational reference group is based on the principle of enhancing
one’s own knowledge (Kelman, 1961); Utilitarian influence is based on an
 Social Reference Group... 275

individual conforming to the norms of the society (Asch, 1951) and Value-
expressive provides a motive to enhance ones’ self-concept (Kelman, 1961).
Studies on reference group influence varies from men to women where
gender is considered to be an influential constituent in consumer buying
behavior (Schiffman and Kanuk, 1996). The same influence is also different
for different product categories (Nair & Pillai, 2007; Holmberg & Ohnfeldt,
2010). Reference group influence has also been found to be relevant in
understanding the conspicuousness of the product (Bearden et. al 1982, Xihao,
H., & Yang, J, 2006, Penz & Hogg, 2015). Studies indicated that public luxury
services were more susceptible to reference group influence as compared to
private necessity (Mehta et.al, 2001). Research has also suggested that the
reference group influence may change across various cultures including
Singapore (Mehta et.al, 2001), India (Singh, N. & Sarvanan, R. 2013,
Choudhary et.al, 2013), Taiwan (Chiang & Yu, 2010), Mexico (Rajagopal,
2011), Pakistan (Zeb, Rashid, & Javeed, 2011), UAE (Khraim, 2011), Finland
(Kokoi, 2011), Malaysia (Tajuddin, Zainol, & Sahil, 2014). However, when
studied specific to women, literature review suggests that the influence of
reference group varies as per age (Kokoi, 2011) and working status of women
(Fernandes and Londhe, 2014, 2015). Hence women cannot be considered as
a single segment while dealing with reference groups influence on their
purchase behaviour.

Role of Women in Decision Making

Over the time, women have evolved as a discrete segment compared to
men. Moreover, marketers are contemplating on the definition of women as a
market being different between women who work and the stay-at-home
sisters(housewives) when they go marketing (Bartos, 1977). In addition to
working women and housewives, there can be one more segment which is the
home-based working women (Desai, Majumdar, Chakraborty, & Ghosh,
2011). Home-based working women were able to share their social roles in a
much better manner considering her flexible work hours as compared to a
working woman (Desai, Majumdar, Chakraborty, & Ghosh, 2011). It was also
observed that the activities carried out by working women and housewives are
276 Journal of Commerce and Management Thought 9 - 2

similar but the degree of importance differs (Bartos, 1977).

The changing role of women has been a major demographic trend over
the years. The increase in the number of women joining workforce have
brought about societal changes due to her changing tastes and her changing
moods (Marketing News, 1979). At the same time working women have
significantly progressed despite the work life barriers that they are faced with
(Chauhan, 2010, Lewis, 2010). Martinez and Polo,1999 stated that it is high
time that we stop considering men as people with money and women as family
managers and style statements but start considering women as having the
spending power and influencing family decisions (Martínez & Polo, 1999).
This is true because women have become knowledgeable due to the effects of
education, employment and their active participation in social mores (Martinez
& Polo, 1999). The changing trends of women at work and their family
lifestyle and incomes have shown relationship between working women and
their consumer buying behaviour patterns (Kahne, 2001). Women being out of
home for work, higher disposable income and their busier lifestyle has made
women increase the time spent in dining out at restaurants (Upadhyay, Singh,
& Sharma, 2009) which has led to the changing food consumption (Yun &
Pysarchik, 2010).
Women managers have started voicing their opinion in organizations and
can identify directions and make way for tough decisions. This paradigm shifts
of working women moving up the ladder in their workplaces has become a
reality from a distant myth (Parikh & Kollan, 2003). Women managers due to
their affluence, power of spending, increased levels of literacy and growing
influence on media and society, have become the focus segment of marketers
in terms of developing marketing strategies and advertisement campaigns
(Mehta et al. 2001; Nair & Pillai, 2007).
See Table 1, which provides studies related to role of women in decision
making.

Men and Women: Reference group influence across Gender

Research suggests that because of increasing women in workforce, marketing
in today’s context has evolved more gender specific (Caterall & MacLaran,
 Social Reference Group... 277

2002; Parikh & Kollan, 2003). Gender differences are observed when
interpersonal behaviour and interpersonal relationships are studied across men
and women (Baral, R. et.al. 2011). Among the married couples, it was
observed that men and women would act differently in taking up
responsibilities for decisions for certain products and product attributes
(Fischer & Arnold, 1994). As male and female consumer’s think differently,
their brain differences show significant impact on how they absorb, process
and retain the data that crosses them. Women use this information by
considering all the senses and seeing a bigger picture in the process of decision
making (Singh, N. & Sarvanan, R., 2013). However, men would be over-
engaging at work while women would strike a balance with life (Parikh &
Kollan, 2003). Women have a higher tendency to have positive attitude
towards social interactions (Campbell, 2000) and thus get influenced
significantly than men. In a study of purchase pattern of cosmetics, it was
observed that both male and female consumers preferred to purchase and select
the cosmetic products individually. However, the main source of information
for the females was their friends and family group influence while male
consumers depended more on advertisements to gather about brand
information (Nair & Pillai, 2007). Women were considered more interactive
in their apparel shopping behaviour in comparison to men as they prefer
validating their choices with friends, word of mouth influences etc. (Singh, N.
& Sarvanan, R., 2013). When the nature of peer pressure across early
adolescents were examined, females reported higher peer pressure than males
towards social interaction. Also, women were found to be more susceptible to
group influence as compared to men (Brown, Lohr & McClenahan, 1986).
However, when the role of reference group influence on gender for mobile
phone purchases was studied, there was no significant difference between male
and female across the dimensions of IRG, URG and VERG (Bishnoi &
Mann, 2015).
Research also puts forth that females are psychologically more involved
and are more excited when it comes to shopping than their male counterparts
(Fischer & Arnold, 1994). This is true as they tend to have a close relationship
with others (social circles) and have a higher tendency for friendships,
cooperation and interpersonal harmony in comparison to males who are more
278 Journal of Commerce and Management Thought 9 - 2

dominant and competitive (Maccoby, 1990). Gabriel & Gardner 1999,

indicated that men are more ‘Collective’ in their interdependence as compared
to women who are more ‘Relational’. ‘Collective’ implies that men associate
themselves with their larger social groups like group memberships, while
‘Relational’ indicate that women tend to associate more with their close family
and friends (Gabriel & Gardner, 1999; Gabriel & Gardner, 2004). Further, on
similar lines of Gabriel & Gardner, it was witnessed that women were highly
susceptible to interpersonal influence as compared to men and gender does
make a difference in the overall consumer attitude (Vidyarthi, 2014). Buying
behaviour on product categories like apparel, consumer electronics and books
showed significant differences between men and women (Coley and Burgess,
2003). With reference to brand preference, female consumers were observed
to have higher loyalty towards products and brands than the male respondents
(Nair & Pillai, 2007). In a study among the male and female users for product
categories, the results showed that male consumers would buy certain products
from a single shop especially for convenience. However female consumers
would tend to buy from different shops based on their convenience rather than
relying on a certain shop (Nair & Pillai, 2007). Literature indicated that
products like financial services, travel and cars have been the men’s market,
although working women and housewives in these three product categories
have shown differences in terms of investment decisions and their attitudes
towards the market (Bartos, 1977).
Thus, generally, gender in decision making has shown differences in all
spheres of marketing arenas including reference group influences and overall
buying behaviour.
See Table 2, which provides studies related to reference group influence
across gender.
Reference Group Influence on Women Consumer Groups across product
categories
The influence of reference groups differs across services and products
being purchased (Xihao, H., & Yang, J, 2006) based on the conspicuousness
of the product. These group influences are a function of the type of the product
 Social Reference Group... 279

being purchased and is based on the product category and the brand (Assael,
2005). Product consumption takes into four conditions, publicly consumed
luxuries, publicly consumed necessities, privately consumed luxuries and
privately consumed necessities. Literature indicated that public luxury
products are more conspicuous and influenced by reference groups as
compared to private luxury or private necessity products. Conspicuousness
implies the product is exclusive and should be seen and identified by others
(Bourne, 1957). The same has been seen in women consumer behaviour in
Singapore where publicly consumed services have higher reference group
influence than privately consumed services due to the conspicuous behaviour
of public services. Similarly, Luxury services had higher reference group
influence than necessity services (Mehta et al., 2001).
Influence of reference groups across product conspicuousness varies
amidst customer segments involving students, working women, housewives
etc. In a study between housewives and students, housewives were seen to be
less susceptible than students to group influences for variety of products (Park
& Lessig, 1977). In case of color television, it was revealed that of the three
reference group influences, Informational reference group was the most
pertinent while considering colour television for housewives in comparison
to students and Utilitarian reference group was the most important during
coffee purchases amongst both the segments (Lessig & Park, 1978). Across the
different product categories like apparels, electronics and beauty products,
working women and housewives showed susceptibility to reference group
influence. Housewives were influenced by husbands through Informational
Reference Group and would confirm with family through Utilitarian Reference
Group while working women were influenced by Informational Reference
Group by observing how others use the product (Fernandes & Londhe, 2014,
2015). The two segments showed significant differences across value-
expressive influence on the parameters of celebrity influence and their own
self-image (Fernandes & Londhe, 2014, 2015).
On similar lines, unlike the working women; across the purchase of motor
cars and purchase or renting of a house, housewives were susceptible to
280 Journal of Commerce and Management Thought 9 - 2

informational reference groups through their spouses’ influence (Martinez &

Polo, 1999).
A comparative study between stay-at-home wives and working women
with respect to new products and their advertising approaches indicate that
working women differ from housewives based on their interests, lifestyle and
usage patterns (Holtzman, 1979). Further-on family expenditure pattern and
work-related-expenses differs if she’s a working woman or a housewife. It was
also observed that working women spent more on transportation, social
security and pensions, clothing and durable goods as compared to housewives
(Kahne, 2001). Study also revealed that if the working women are heavy users
of the product category, they react to advertising differently as compared to the
housewives (Holtzman, 1979). Most working women purchase cosmetics
individually while housewives depend more on their spouse. However, the
main source of information for housewives was friends and family group
influence (Nair & Pillai, 2007). In general, for women, social setting and self-
expression is an important parameter along with validation from others,
primarily from celebrities, being the major influencing drives of their
perception (Choudhary, Munjal, & Rathore, 2013).
Literature studies have indicated that social reference group influence
from reference groups like friends, colleagues, family members are becoming
important validation parameters for women buying behaviour (Limbad, 2013)
though their influence varies for working women and housewives.
Culture also plays an important role on women consumer pattern and on
group influences. Susceptibility to reference group influence was evident
among women apparel fashion shoppers in Mexico, where women’s shopping
desires were driven by interpersonal influences like referrals by family and
peers, mall attractions and sales promotions (Rajagopal, 2011). The results
were consistent with female consumer behaviour in Pakistan on branded
clothing. The study revealed self-concept and reference groups like siblings
and friends to be important factors in female consumer behaviour. Studies also
analyzed that higher the reference group involvement, greater would be the
adoption of fashion clothing (Zeb, Rashid, & Javeed, 2011). Among the female
cosmetic buying behaviour in Taiwan; advertisements, newspaper, and
 Social Reference Group... 281

magazines were the major sources of information and were more conscious in
their cosmetic product purchases as it improves their social status.
Informational reference group influence was the most pertinent in this case
(Chiang & Yu, 2010).
See Table 3, which provides studies related to Reference Group on
Women Consumer Groups across product categories.

Reference group influence of women across Age groups

Women buying behaviour across age groups have shown significant
differences. In a study on facial skin care products, only a tenth of older women
were influenced by friends as against younger women where-in one fifth of
women received opinion from friends (Kokoi,2011). Moreover, 20-35 year
olds were more influenced by friends than those between 40-60-year-old
women (Kokoi, 2011). In contrast, age was irrelevant when investment
decisions as a product were considered. There was no significant difference
between the influence of age on the buying decision in relation to investments.
i.e. the group influences didn’t differ significantly (Hoffmann & Broekhuizen,
2009). Age was also pertinent in cases where-in traditional values of
collectivism-individualism reported negative relationship as age advances. i.e.
it was expected that the youth were more individualistic in nature as compared
to older age consumers (Brokaw & Lakshman, 1995). Young Finnish women
were receptive to influence by friends, blogs and internet as compared to
elderly Finnish women who were dependent on advertisements and
commercials (Kokoi, 2011). Similarly, middle age group women showed
higher involvement in their social groups as against older age women (Singh,
N. & Sarvanan, R., 2013). With regards to family decision making and primary
reference group influence, studies suggested that younger couples usually carry
out joint decisions in cases where both the wife and husband work while in
cases where the couples have been married for many years or the wife is a
homemaker, the husband would usually be the decision maker (Martínez &
Polo, 1999).
282 Journal of Commerce and Management Thought 9 - 2

Conclusion
Reference group influence has been studied and classified as
informational, utilitarian and value expressive reference group influences.
Reference group influences varies across gender and women have been found
to be more susceptible to reference group influence than men. As females were
more socially connected with the society and were psychologically more
involved in shopping than males, this resulted in gender being a vital
differentiator in social reference group influences. However, women cannot be
treated as a single segment while considering reference group influence.
Working women tend to take decisions individually in comparison to
housewives who are more reliant on their spouse. However young married
couples irrespective of working status participate in joint decision making with
their spouse. Additionally, age differences too resulted in susceptibility to
group influences. Results indicated that younger women were more susceptible
to reference group influences as compared to older women (Kokoi, 2011).
Reference group influence on women differ across product categories.
Women showed conspicuousness towards public luxury products and services
in comparison to private luxury and this conspicuousness is highly correlated
with reference group influence. In certain cases, housewives were influenced
by husbands through Informational influence and would check with family
before buying certain products through Utilitarian influence. While working
women were primarily influenced by Informational influence. However,
working women across service consumption were susceptible to utilitarian
influence for public luxury services and informational influence for both
private necessity and private luxury services (Mehta et.al, 2001). This brings
to focus that women segments are important audience that marketers cannot
ignore in their advertising campaigns. At the same time, there is considerable
difference in reference group influence on working women and housewives.
Understanding women more closely in terms of their attitude towards product
consumption like public luxury products, private luxury products, public
necessity products and private necessity products becomes innately significant.
Culture also contributes towards social influences and plays a dominant role
in women buying behaviour.
 Social Reference Group... 283

Scope for Future Research

Though there are many studies across the globe on women consumer
behaviour, however it still requires more understanding into the differential
influence of various types of reference group influence on working women
and housewives. No studies clearly differentiate between how housewives and
working women differ in terms of social group influence. Examination of these
social influences involving informational, utilitarian and value-expressive
reference groups on both these segments can be further explored.
At the same time, conspicuousness has been found to be a factor on which
group influences differ. There is a scope to study how group influences differ
amongst the housewives and working women based on the conspicuousness
of products involving conditions of public necessity (PUN), public luxury
(PUL), private necessity (PRN) and private luxury (PRL) products. The same
can also be studied across other demographic variables like age groups,
educational qualifications, marital status etc.
No structured model is available on how group influence vary between
working women and non-working women. Such a study on women would
contribute to the body of knowledge and would be of utility to marketers who
would identify new segments to market their products. This would also help
academicians to understand consumer behaviour of these two segments of
working women and housewives.

Tables
Table 1 – Role of women in decision-making
284 Journal of Commerce and Management Thought 9 - 2
 Social Reference Group... 285

Table 2 – Reference group influence across gender

286 Journal of Commerce and Management Thought 9 - 2

Table 3 - Reference Group on Women Consumer

Groups across product categories
 Social Reference Group... 287

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The Authors:
Semila Fenelly Fernandes, is Asstt. Professor in Symbiosis Institute of
Business Management, Bengaluru- a constituent of Symbiosis International
University, Pune
She holds an MBA in Marketing Management from Pune University, an
M. Phil in Management from Periyar University and a B.Sc. from Goa
University. She has also completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual
Property Rights from NLSIU, Bangalore. She is pursuing her Ph.D from SIU,
Pune. She has 13 years of teaching experience in the area of Marketing. Ms.
Semila has corporate exposure from her stint at Bajaj Allianz General
Insurance Company as an Executive - Direct Marketing and at ICFAI as a
Regional Summer Internship Co-ordinator. Her research expertise has been in
the area of Consumer Behaviour. A case study co-authored by her has won
prize in the Marketing category of ISB-Ivey Global Case Competition 2017.
Email id : semila.fernandes@sibm.edu.in
Dr. Rajesh Panda, is Professor, in Symbiosis Institute of Business
Management, Bengaluru, a constituent of Symbiosis International University,
Pune.
He is a graduate of IIM, Ahmedabad and holds Master’s degree in
Economics and Ph D degree in Retailing. Besides being a Professor at SIBM
B, he is also an adjunct Faculty with School of International Business and
Entrepreneurship, Steinbeis University, Berlin and a visiting faculty at IIM
 Social Reference Group... 291

Ranchi. Dr. Panda has been awarded the Best professor in Marketing by
National Educational Leadership Awards (2014). He has more than 25 peer
reviewed publications in various national and international journals and three
case studies distributed by Ivey Publishing and Harvard Business School
Publishing to his credit.Dr. Panda is a member of the ‘Board of Studies
(Faculty of Management)’, ‘Planning and Monitoring Board’ and ‘Academic
Council’ of Symbiosis International University. He also served as the member
of Academic council of SCDL in the past. Dr. Panda has vast experience in
corporate training, research and consulting with companies like Godrej, HUL,
ITC, IBM, Amdocs, Zensar, BMC Software, Mphasis, Wipro, CapGemini,
WNS, BACS, John Deere, Avaya, McDonalds, Praj Industries, Taco,Tyco,
M&M, Allscripts, Eclerx etc. Dr. Panda is a reviewer of marketing books with
Pearson Education and Tata McGraw-Hill education private limited.
Email id : director@sibm.edu.in
● Received on : February 28, 2018.

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