Just Whose Hand Rocks the Cradle?
Document Type Conference Paper
Irish Academy of Management.14th Annual Conference.Septermber 1-2, 2011National College of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
Abstract
This study aims to specifically understand the parent-child purchase request relationship from fathers’ perspective. Social norms and patterns of family formation are changing. The majority of research is dated and neglects these changes (preferring instead to rely on the traditional family unit) including family interactions, communications and decision-making and their impact on the parent-child purchase request relationship. Therefore, a new direction was needed to research what was occurring in the purchase request relationship between father and child. This paper set out to address the current gap in understanding fathers’ purchase request experiences. In order to capture the fathers’ experience the use of an interpretivist approach in conjunction with phenomenology as methodology is employed. In addition, the departure from extant positivistic research, to an interpretive approach proved very beneficial in uncovering fathers’ experience. Findings are presented through several emergent themes, identified through the interpretive process. These thematic findings position the parent-child purchase relationships, from fathers’ perspective. in a positive light where understanding permeates this natural familial interaction.