An analysis of child consumers in Turkey

This research was conducted on 402 children going to kindergarten and primary schools with the purpose of analysing the children's interests, responsibilities, economic resources, purchasing activities, and socialization agents and purchase influences as consumers. Data were collected using a questionnaire, which was prepared by considering some previous research. The questionnaire was applied to subjects through face‐to‐face individual interview. The data were analysed by using explanatory variables, including age, gender, socio‐economic status and family type. Findings indicated that consumer socialization of children was connected to selected demographic characteristics, especially age, and they were surprisingly independent and influential consumers. The results of this study are important for those involved in children's and adults’ markets, and for consumer educators.     

Consumer socialization,social structural factors and decision‐making styles: a case study of adolescents in Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the process of consumer socialization will determine adolescents’ decision‐making styles. Eight decision‐making styles were conceptualized as outcomes of the socialization process, which is acquired via interaction with socialization agents, namely parents, peers, printed media, television commercials and in‐school education. The study also proposed five social structural variables (social class, gender, ethnicity, residence and religion) as being associated with the socialization agents and decision‐making styles. The study sample consisted of 934 adolescents between the ages of 16 and 19 years. The data were collected using a self‐administered questionnaire and analysed with the SPSS computer program. As a result of regression analyses, significant relationships were found between social structural factors and socialization processes, suggesting that the influence of socialization agents on adolescents may vary according to certain demographic characteristics. Significant relationships were also found between social structural factors and socialization processes. Peers appeared to be the most important agents of consumer socialization, contributing to a variety of desirable as well as undesirable consumer decision styles. Printed media and television commercials were also found to be significant sources of the acquisition of both desirable and undesirable decision‐making styles. Parents and in‐school education, however, were insignificant in the acquisition of any decision‐making styles among adolescents. Information obtained from this study could be useful to government agencies and consumer educators. The most revealing finding of this study is that parents did not contribute to the formulation of decision‐making orientation for adolescents. This points to the need for consumer educators to take steps in designing programmes that will involve parents as primary socialization agents at home; this may be facilitated via printed materials. Apart from this, the information can also be helpful in enabling marketers to be more effective in targeting various adolescent markets by formulating marketing strategies according to demographic factors, socialization process and decision‐making styles.     

Consumer attitudes towards the quality of domestic and imported apparel and footwear*

Due to increased imports and increasingly competitive consumer markets, this study was undertaken to determine consumers' quality images of Canada and the major countries from which men's, women's and children's clothing, and men's and women's footwear were imported. A self-completed mail survey of 635 members of a consumer panel yielded demographic representation from English- and French-speaking men and women. The Fishbein-Rosenberg multi-attribute model was used to compute consumers' attitudes towards countries as producers of clothing and footwear. Consumers had high quality images of Canadian-, U.S.- and European-made clothing and footwear. The styling of Italian-made shoes and French-made clothing was perceived as superior to Canadian-made products. All consumers were critical of the products from low-wage countries, particularly consumers with higher education, income and employment status. Implications were drawn emphasizing the need for consumer research and marketing strategies.     

Consumer Socialization and the Role of Branding in Hazardous Adolescent Drinking

This study examines the relationship between alcohol marketing and consumer socialization to alcohol brands (assessed here using aided and unaided brand recognition and brand saliency), and the associated relationship between consumer socialization and hazardous alcohol consumption among a cohort of adolescents surveyed in Scotland. The research addresses gaps in the consumer socialization literature, by examining how marketing influences brand consumer socialization, and how brand consumer socialization influences subsequent hazardous consumption behavior over time, using a robust longitudinal design that assesses causal relationships while controlling for a wide range of important confounding variables. The results demonstrate the contribution of marketing to adolescents’ brand socialization to alcohol and the impact of this socialization on subsequent drinking behaviors. Implications for marketing managers, parents, policymakers, and consumer researchers are discussed, together with suggestions for future consumer research.     

Drivers of clothing disposal in the US: An exploration of the role of personal attributes and behaviours in frequent disposal

Clothing products remain important in today's consumer culture, but the sustainability of that consumption is questionable, as it often leads to excess waste. The purpose of this study was to explore the drivers of clothing waste, and to investigate the influence of demographic factors and personal attributes on disposal frequency. An online survey was conducted to over 500 men and women in the US from three different generational cohorts. The survey investigated fashion trend sensitivity, shopping frequency, quality and price consciousness as well as demographic factors, utilizing 5‐point Likert scales. On the basis of literature, seven hypotheses were developed. Correlational analysis, independent t‐test and one‐way analysis of variance were conducted to test the hypotheses. Results indicate that fashion trend sensitivity, fashion shopping frequency, higher incomes, younger age groups and being female are all positively correlated with frequent clothing disposal. Interestingly, quality consciousness was positively correlated to frequent clothing disposal, while price consciousness was negatively related to clothing disposal frequency. This study contributes to the literature by providing a more specific examination of the drivers of frequent clothing disposal and providing empirical evidence to support previous exploratory studies.     

Adolescent consumer decision-making styles: The consumer socialization perspective

This study has attempted to conceptualize the distinct factors that may be said to characterize an adolescent's consumer decision-making style from the perspective of consumer socialization. Eight consumer decision-making styles were proposed to be associated with the influence of socialization agents and antecedent variables (e.g., social structural and developmental variables). Influence of socialization agents was also proposed to be associated with antecedent variables. Survey data (N = 1954) collected from 29 high schools in a southwestern state were examined with the use of a series of stepwise multiple regression analyses. Influence of socialization agents—peers, parents, printed media, TV commercials, and consumer education—clearly played an important role in influencing adolescent consumer decision-making styles. Antecedent variables, especially social structural variables such as gender, ethnicity, main reason for working, and the amount of parental allowance, demonstrated significant correlations with consumer decision-making styles. Antecedent variables, however, were in general found to be only distantly related to the influence of socialization agents. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Pre‐purchase and post‐purchase satisfaction and fashion involvement of female tennis wear consumers

This study examined the relationship among pre‐purchase and post‐purchase satisfaction and fashion involvement of women who participated in tennis. As women's activities in sports, including tennis, are growing, it is necessary to investigate their clothing needs in order to meet consumers’ needs. A final sample consisted of 124 women who attended a Cortec United States Tennis Association Women's Pro Tournament. The questionnaires were personally distributed and collected during the tournament. The theoretical base for this study was the Engel, Blackwell, and Miniard model on consumer decision making. There was a positive significant relationship between pre‐purchase satisfaction and post‐purchase satisfaction (P < 0.01). There was a positive significant relationship between pre‐purchase satisfaction and fashion involvement (P < 0.001). Also, there was a positive significant relationship between post‐purchase satisfaction and fashion involvement (P < 0.001). Comfort was identified as the most important clothing attribute and fit the second most important for women to achieve satisfaction before and after purchasing tennis apparel. Seventy‐two percent of the women indicated the need for improved fit of tennis wear. Women of all ages reported garment length as a problem for each garment type. Two major reasons for not purchasing tennis clothing were high prices and inappropriate sizes.     

Consumer behaviour of Brazilian primary school students: findings from focus group interviews

Children worldwide are becoming avid consumers of virtually every type of product and service, which qualifies them as an important primary market. The purpose of this study was to obtain primary data about the consumer behaviour of a group of Brazilian children using a qualitative approach. Twelve focus group interviews were conducted with primary school students (7–10 years, n = 57), and results were processed through content analysis. Many, but not all students, received an allowance, mostly from parents and grandparents. Many students spent the money immediately or after just saving only enough to buy a desired item; others preferred to save their money for the sake of saving it or for a specific future endeavor. Money was spent mainly on food, toys and clothes; sometimes on the impulse of the moment and associated with later guilt. Television was considered a big source of information on new products, but regarded as untrustworthy. When they could not get what they wanted, most children appealed to negotiation strategies; many also reported feeling sad or cross. Results showed a situation of late socialization as consumers, suggesting the children could benefit from consumer education strategies targeted at them.     

Adolescents’ brand sensitivity in apparel: influence of three socialization agents

Wearing clothes with prestigious brand names seems to be very important for adolescents. This phenomenon was studied in the context of consumer socialization by examining the influence of three socialization agents, namely parents, peers and TV, on the development of French Canadian adolescents’ brand sensitivity and their relative importance. Controlling for socio‐economic variables, multiple regression analyses were conducted separately for boys and for girls. For both genders, brand sensitivity is related to peer influence. Girls’ brand sensitivity is related to the importance fathers give to clothing brands. TV exposure is not related to adolescents’ brand sensitivity. For boys and girls, peers represent the most important predictor of this consumer socialization. The results are discussed in the light of social and economic pressures and family relationships.     

Balancing health,harmony and hegemony: Parents' goals and strategies in children's food related consumer socialization

Parents play a pivotal role in socializing their children for healthy eating. The objectives of the present study were (1) to identify food socialization outcomes valued by parents, and (2) to study how parents socialize their children for (healthy) eating at home and during food shopping. Including both parents' perceptions of valued food socialization outcomes and associated processes addresses a significant gap in the food socialization literature. The study used semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews with parents of young children. Data were subsequently analysed by interpretive, thematic procedures. The sample consisted of middle‐ to high‐income families from two cities in Denmark. Findings reveal four main food socialization goals valued by parents: (1) Nutrition and Health, (2) Healthy Relationship with Food, (3) Food Assimilation and (4) Self‐Regulation and Autonomy. Parents prioritized children's acquisition of a healthy relationship with food which included preserving family relations and harmony, more than strictly attending a nutritious diet, contrasting the focus on the nutritional value of diet usually emphasised by public health authorities. The study therefore concludes that parents' notions of what constitutes healthy diets for their children is not completely aligned with common nutrition‐oriented recommendations. Also, fathers were found to play a very active role in their children's food‐related consumer socialization. The findings underline the importance of addressing the priorities and strategies of both mothers and fathers when marketers and policy makers target contemporary families regarding children's food socialization.     

Consumer behaviour reflected in store and clothing selection criteria: a pilot study in Canada and England

Similarities and differences in selected clothing acquisition behaviour at two independent sites have been investigated using the Engel, Blackwell and Miniard consumer behaviour model as the conceptual framework. Similar clothing values orientations were found, supporting the assumption of a common Anglo-root culture at both sites. The paper focuses on an outcome of the values issue, namely store selection criteria and clothing evaluative criteria used by university students in Winnipeg, Canada and Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K. Respondents at both sites rated the store selection criteria and clothing evaluative criteria in similar orders of importance. Significant Spearman rank correlation coefficients for store selection criteria (r_s= 0-95) and clothing evaluative criteria (r_s= 0-88) suggest that the common Anglo-root culture of the Winnipeg and Newcastle participants has more influence on the alternative evaluative stage of the decision-making process than marketing stimuli and strategies found at each site. When individual criteria were compared across sites, only three of the ten store selection criteria gave statistically different responses, while three of the 21 clothing evaluative criteria were found to be statistically different.     

Intergeneration differences in consumer behavior: Some evidence from a Developing Country

Investigation of consumer socialization processes provide insights into the learning of consumer skills and values. A study conducted in India reveal that children may be important sources of information and this role needs to be specifically fostered. Parents, especially mothers, may not be “rational” socializing agents. These findings contrast with those from socialization studies conducted in affluent societies such as the United States. These differences in socializing influences reflect to some degree differences in levels of economic development. However, they have implications for socialization research and policies in both types of economies.     

Pre‐schoolers,parents and supermarkets: co‐shopping as a social practice

The objective of this paper was to examine the co‐shopping practices of children and parents in supermarkets, i.e. the practical enactment of grocery shopping. Our special focus is on how informal consumer training occurs during parent–child interaction. We use observational data collected in spring 2008 in different Estonian supermarkets, post‐shopping interviews with parents and focus group interviews with their children. Our analysis is informed by practice theory, which helps to look in detail at how the activities in a particular situation are coordinated by understandings and procedures, and are guided by the engagement in a particular shopping trip. Co‐shopping interactions mostly revolve around particular material objects, although not exclusively. Product choice is a deeply contested area, where both parents and children face numerous pressures in this situation of two‐way socialization. There are implications for consumer education more broadly. To accomplish lasting and meaningful effects on the everyday lives of families, there has to be a wider range of actors – supermarkets, producers, governmental bodies, schools and families – who care about both formal and informal consumer education.     

Financial socialization's impact on investment orientation and household net worth

This study investigates the role of financial socialization for investment orientation and household net worth. Combining consumer socialization literature with findings in the behavioural finance literature, survey data were analysed to (1) investigate the relationship among household net worth, financial socialization, indicators of investment orientation and socio-demographic investor characteristics; (2) examine the influence of socio-demographic investor characteristics and financial socialization on indicators of investment orientation; and (3) test whether financial socialization affects household wealth above and beyond socio-demographic and investment orientation factors. Parents emerged as a relevant socialization agent of investors, influencing investment regularity and household net worth above and beyond other factors. This result extends earlier findings about parents' role for a person's financial management and savings behaviour to the investment context. Based on our findings, educators may want to involve parents in their efforts. They may want to emphasize the importance of starting investing regularly at an early age and of continuing to increase involvement in investing over the years. Financial planners and financial counsellors may consider emphasizing these two practices for their clients and involve children of their clients when and where appropriate.     

Consumer education between ‘consumership’ and citizenship: experiences from studies of young people

The aim of consumer education has been mainly to teach and educate students to act as informed, rational and prudent consumers. This perception of consumption as reasoned behaviour or action is inadequate in the late modern society, where consumerism is first and foremost characterized by globalization, cultural change and the liberation of the individual. The results of a research study involving Danish pupils aged 12–19 years present a picture of consumption connected both to material and non‐material aspects of life. Consumption as such has a significant impact on and meaning for the individual: it becomes a means by which human beings communicate and interact. Consumption is part of children's and young people's education and socialization, and plays a role in the development of identity and self‐image. Institutional consumer enlightenment and the education of students in school stand in contrast to informal consumer socialization and the education of individuals. The aim of formal consumer education may be described as ‘educating for critical consumer awareness and action competence’. However consumer education finds itself in the dilemma between ‘consumership’ and ‘citizenship’. This pilot study is aimed at understanding consumer socialization in order to improve formal consumer education and to reflect on how empowerment becomes part of consumer education.     

Cultural differences in consumer socialization: A comparison of Chinese–Canadian and Caucasian–Canadian children

Based on the extant literature on the cultural/subcultural differences in socialization goals and parental practices in the childrearing process, this study compares Chinese–Canadian and Caucasian–Canadian families with respect to three issues central to consumer socialization – family communication patterns, children's consumer decision-making styles, and children's influence in family purchase decisions. Some significant results include: (1) Chinese–Canadian children perceived both of their parents as more socio-oriented than Caucasian–Canadian children perceived theirs whereas no significant between-group difference was found on the perceived level of concept-orientation for either parent; (2) Chinese–Canadian children, relative to their Caucasian–Canadian counterparts, exhibited more utilitarian and confused-by-overchoice consumer decision-making orientations but less social/conspicuous and impulsive orientations; and (3) Chinese–Canadian children exercised greater purchase influence than their Caucasian–Canadian counterparts for the adolescent ‘convenience’ product category but no difference was found for the adolescent ‘durable’ product category.     

Who teaches them to consume: a study of Brazilian youngsters

This article is aligned with Burgess and Steenkamp's suggestion of the need for a marketing renaissance through research into emerging markets in order to advance marketing science and practice. The objective was to study the consumer socialization of pre‐adolescents and adolescents living in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The study also seeks to understand the consumer socialization process and primary influences. Being an exploratory study, it was developed through interviews with 10 participants, aged 11–13. Findings highlighted aspects not yet reported by the international literature, such as the postponement of mobility and autonomy for consumer behaviour because of parents' concerns with violence in a major urban centre. Another issue that is discussed is the probability that grandparents and domestic workers act as potential agents for children's consumer socialization.     

Segmenting multichannel consumers across search,purchase and after-sales

While bricks-and-mortar stores and the Internet are dominant retailing channels, mobile and social media have rapidly emerged and challenge traditional retail models and consumer behavior. However, researchers have yet to account for how consumers integrate mobile and social channels throughout the various stages of the buying process. Using Latent-Class Cluster Analysis segmentation, we examine consumer behavior in store, Internet, mobile, and social media channels across the search, purchase and after-sales buying stages in the aggregate and specific to the clothing, holiday travel and consumer electronics categories. We find five multichannel consumer segments on the basis of perceived channel importance across the buying process, as well as psychographic and demographic characteristics. Interestingly, we find a polarization in perceived importance of mobile and social media channels, with two consumer segments rating mobile and social media channels as unimportant in the buying process. Furthermore, and compared to prior segmentations of multichannel consumer behavior, we do not find an aggregate store-focused segment. However, a store-focused segment exists in the context of buying clothing and represents 28.6 per cent of consumers. The findings show multichannel consumer preferences and behavior continues to evolve in line with new and emerging retailing channels. Further, this study confirms that there is no ‘one-size fits all’ approach to multichannel retailing.     

A comparison of parents' and children's knowledge of brands and advertising slogans in the United States: implications for consumer socialization

Research in the area of consumer socialization suggests that parents act in an agent–learner relationship with their preadolescent children and have the greatest influence on their young children's purchase behaviour. The present study examines this assumption in light of changes in family roles and composition, media exposure and marketing efforts aimed at children. A cognitive recognition test of advertising slogans drawn from recent television commercials is used to determine knowledge levels of a sample of preadolescent children and their parents. Results suggest that children, beginning at age nine, have as much knowledge of advertising slogans as do their parents, even in product categories targeted at adults.     

Clothing as an environment for older adults' successful ageing

This research tested a conceptual model for proximity of clothing to self (PCS) in relation to age identity, self‐actualization, psychological well‐being, self‐assessed health, sex and chronological age among older adults, aged 65 and over, within the human ecological perspective. A mail survey was sent to a national random sample of 1700 older adults in the US resulting in 195 usable respondents in the final sample. The respondents returned two completed questionnaires, which were (1) Clothing: A Resource for Successful Aging? (to measure PCS, age identity and demographic variables) and (2) Personal Orientation Inventory (to measure self‐actualization). The results indicated that older adults' psychological well‐being, one component of successful ageing, was directly affected by their self‐assessed health, age identity and self‐actualization. PCS indirectly influenced individuals' psychological well‐being in a slightly negative way in later life. In sum, clothing may be used as a needs satisfier for different levels of needs or related more closely with needs in addition to self‐actualization needs for older adults. Further research should be conducted to explore relationships among PCS, different levels of human needs, clothing‐related variables and psychological well‐being for this age group. In practice, the effort should be given to teach the use of clothing (or other human‐built objects) as a tool or need satisfier to contribute to success in a person's later life by offering some educational or training programmes through local senior community centres or universities.