Farm Wives' Business and Household Decision Involvement in Times of Economic Stress

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the involvement of 263 farm wives in decision-making discussions about periodic and continuous business decisions and household decisions during times of economic stress. The operating hypothesis that the perceptions of the decision maker would contribute to the explanation of variance in decision discussion involvement over and above the variance explained by the contextual factors was supported in three two-step regression analyses. The satisfaction about the way money concerns are discussed was positively related to involvement in decision discussions for all three decision content areas. Perceptions concerning the tendency to set new goals increased the involvement in periodic and continuous farm decisions. Perceptions about the amount of respect received increased involvement in periodic farm and household decision discussions, and perceived income adequacy negatively influenced involvement in continuous farm decision discussions. The number of years farming influenced household decision discussions and off-farm work influenced involvement in continuous farm decision discussions.