COMMUNITY ATTACHMENT AND SPENDING LOCATION - THE IMPORTANCE OF PLACE IN HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION

A growing body of literature has focused on social influences on firm decision making. There has been much less research on the social facto rs shaping household spending patterns, particularly the location of t hose purchases. This paper examines the effects of community attachmen t, household characteristics, and community structure on location-of-s pending patterns among households. Spending location is primarily rela ted to total household spending and community attachment. Community si ze and proximity to a metropolitan area also are correlated with total purchases in the community. Some differences are found in the importa nce of household characteristics, community attachment, and community structure across various categories of goods and services. Community a ttachment is strongly related to local food purchases but weakly relat ed to local clothing purchases. This research provides support for arg uments regarding the social embeddedness of economic action.