Working it out together: a suggested model for vacation-related decision-making in couples

ABSTRACT

Choices we make are oftentimes shaped by people we are in a relationship with. Surprisingly, most tourism research assumes that the decision-maker is a single individual who is not influenced by their significant others. To fill in this gap, this study investigated how couples make complex vacation-related choices, and which decision reaching strategies they practice. By means of in-depth interviews with nine Norwegian couples, we examined which interpersonal factors affect decisions couples make together. Using grounded theory we developed a conceptual model of couple decision-making, which illustrates mechanisms within couple decision-making. The model suggests that certain subcategories of relationship attributes, interpersonal communication, and process involvement influence whether a couple uses democratic or monocratic decision-reaching strategies. The model we introduce has incorporated concepts that, at present, have received little or no attention in relation to complex decisions, in particular the vacation-related ones. We suggest six propositions for future research, and implications for vacation-related businesses and group decision-making are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Couples decision-making
• decision reaching strategies
• interpersonal communication
• process involvement
• relationship attributes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Håvard Hansen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8647-3321