Haruka Kozuka: Decision-making for "Someone"

2025/02/25

We make various decisions every day. My research to date has focused on purchasing and consumption decisions based on the premise that the purchaser and the consumer of a product or service are the same person. However, in recent years, through the experiences of childbirth, childcare, and nursing care, I have become interested in purchasing decisions where the purchaser is not the consumer. In making decisions for my child as a parent, or for my parent as a child, I occasionally feel the difficulty of arriving at a solution. Thus, I began to consider why decision-making for "someone" other than oneself is so difficult.

I believe the difficulty of decision-making for "someone" stems from the fact that, since the decision is for another person, information from "the other person's perspective" cannot be ignored. Purchasers derive satisfaction from their own decision-making by seeing the other person satisfied with the chosen product or service. Therefore, for a purchaser to make a satisfactory decision, they must choose an option that will satisfy the other person, requiring them to consider not only their own evaluation of the options but also that of the other person.

However, considering "the other person's perspective" complicates the decision-making process. For instance, if the evaluation of options differs between the purchaser and the other person, the purchaser must decide which evaluation to prioritize while considering the length and depth of their relationship. Furthermore, if the purchaser cannot obtain the other person's evaluation (e.g., the other person is a preschooler or an elderly person with limited evaluation capacity, or the purchaser is considering a purchase without the other person's knowledge), the purchaser must predict that evaluation. The difficulty of this prediction varies depending on the characteristics of the subject (e.g., tangible goods like handkerchiefs or sweets, or intangible credence goods like childcare, education, nursing care, or medical care) and the purchaser's knowledge of the subject. In this way, decision-making for "someone" becomes increasingly complex as various factors overlap due to the purchaser's concern for the other person.

Decision-making for "someone" is just one example of the many decisions we make every day. I intend to continue focusing on the diverse and complex decision-making of consumers and devote myself to research that deepens our understanding of consumers.