Do established antecedents of purchase decision-making power apply to contemporary couples?

The research reported here investigated the extent to which hedonic theory explains the nature of the effects of the established antecedents of marita l roles (resource theory, sex-role orientation, least-interested partner hy pothesis, and involvement) on relative influence and strategy usage in purc hase decision making for married and nontraditional couples (cohabiting het erosexual, gay, and lesbian couples). The findings reveal that hedonic theo ry (the effect of partners' [dis] similarity in an antecedent on that antec edent's impact of relational power) explains the majority of cases where th e impact of the antecedents on power vary across couple types. In some case s, however, hedonic theory is lacking in its explanatory power, thus indica ting that couple types differ other than the extent to which partners are ( dis)similar demographically or socioeconomically. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Son s, Inc.