A cross-national study
on childrens purchasing
behavior and parental
response
Introduction
Jayantha S. Wimalasiri
The author
Jayantha S. Wimalasiri is an Associate Professor in the
Department of Management and Public Administration,
The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.
Keywords
Influence, Consumer marketing, Consumer research
Abstract
Children use various influencing tactics to persuade the parents
to comply with their requests. Parents responses vary from
outright denial to total acceptance. A sample of 255 parents
selected from the Fiji Islands, Tonga and the Cook Islands were
interviewed using a structured questionnaire to measure the
effects of childrens influence on the parental decision making
process. This preliminary investigation suggests that the children
in the Pacific Islands have not moved from parent-centered
family environment to the modern, mostly Western, childcentered family environment. The second part of the research
was designed to identify the demonstrated influence tactics used
by the children in the island nations. The findings indicate that
the children are less demanding and more persuasive in their
attempt to obtain parental approval. Details of statistical
analysis of the study are given. The implications of the findings
for marketing management are also discussed in the paper.
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Jayantha S. Wimalasiri
Theoretical underpinning
The marketers have recognized childrens
influence on their parents purchase decisions
since the 1950s. Research into intergenerational
issues with focus on consumer behavior began
about three decades ago with Hill (1970) focusing
on levels of consumership that hold over more than
one generation. Miller (1975) asserts that parents
and children share continuity in terms of
unfulfilled plans and consumer behavior. Rusts
(1993) study observed parents and children
shopping together to find out how their in-store
behavior varied with the age of the child. MooreShay and Lutzs (1988) study examined the
relation between family communication patterns
and mothers marketplace motivations, attitudes
and behaviors. The results of this study suggest a
correlation between shopping tendencies and
family communication patterns. McArthurs
(1992) study revealed that, half of the teenagers
surveyed helped in the selection of some brands,
and 14 percent contributed to the decision for
most brands, and 13 percent had a say in the
choice of every brand. The most comprehensive
study on childrens purchasing power comes from
James McNeal (1969, 1987, 1992). According to
McNeal (1969, 1987, 1992), children get
experience in shopping and eating at the age of two
months, and when they are in first-grade they have
gained thousands of shopping experiences. He says
that todays kids in the USA have great influence
over what their parents buy and on average, kids in
supermarkets with a parent will make 15 requests
and about half of them will be fulfilled.
Carlson and Grossbart (1988) identify two
strategies that parents use to influence their
children: direct instrumental training and
modeling. The former occurs when a parent
specifically and directly attempts to bring about
certain responses through reasoning and
reinforcement. The latter occurs when a child
learns appropriate (or inappropriate) consumption
behaviors by observing parents (or others).
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Jayantha S. Wimalasiri
Methodology
Study site and unit of analysis
Using a structured questionnaire, data for the
study were collected from 104 families in the Fiji
Islands, 101 families in the Cook Islands and 98
families in Tonga. Consistent with Atkins (1978)
flow chart (see Table I) the first part of the research
instrument was designed by the author to ascertain
the manners expressed by children towards their
parents. Consistent with Yukl and Falbe (1990)
the second part of the research instrument
contained 24 statements aimed at tapping
influence tactics of children in each of the three
nations.
The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a
regional university serving 12 nations in the South
Pacific. The main campus is located in Suva, Fiji
and each of the 12 member nations has a USP
centre to cater to the needs of the local students.
Faculty members of the main campus often visit
the USP centres to conduct lecturers, tutorials and
to consult with the students. It is this arrangement
Table I Scale definitions of influence tactics
Pressure tactics
Upward appeal
Exchange tactics
Coalition tactics
Ingratiating tactics
Rational persuasion
Inspirational appeals
Consultation tactics
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Jayantha S. Wimalasiri
Sample
The three samples as shown in Table II, represent a
broad diversity of socio-economic status of the
responding families. In Fiji and in Tonga male
Table II Sample characteristics
Study site
Cook Islands
Tonga
(%)
(%)
Characteristics
Fiji
(%)
Age
18-29
30-40
41-53
54-above
12
59
26
3
37
49
12
22
40
23
1
25
52
19
1
Gender
Male
Female
57
43
40
60
52
48
48
52
Religion
Christianity
Hinduism
Buddhism
Islam
Other
83
7
2
2
6
82
1
12
98
88
3
1
1
7
Employment
Managerial
Supervisory
Clerical
Blue-collar
Self-employed
Non-working
7
26
39
14
18
2
13
20
32
5
27
3
21
12
11
18
38
3
13
19
26
11
17
3
Number of children
1
2/3
4/5
6/7
Above 8
21
40
27
11
20
41
28
7
2
15
27
27
24
6
19
37
28
13
3
Household income
$400-$600
$601-$800
$801-$1,000
$1,001-$1,500
$1,501-$2,000
$2,001+
36
28
20
11
3
2
16
12
16
17
18
21
45
17
14
5
3
6
35
19
17
11
8
10
Total sample
(%)
Research instrument
Consistent with prior studies, the research
instrument was designed by the author, pre-tested
and implemented through a team of research
assistants who volunteered to administer the
questionnaire. The first part of the questionnaire
follows Atkins (1978) flow chart of parent-child
interaction (see Table I) and was designed to
measure:
.
the party which initiate the selection of
childrens products (products include
chocolate, ice-cream, candy bars, soft drinks
and toys);
.
the opposite partys reaction (that is childs
reaction to parents choice and parents
reaction to childs choice;
.
if child selected the item, parents response
and if parent selected the item, childs
response;
.
the tone and mood of response; and
.
the final outcome of the transaction process.
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Jayantha S. Wimalasiri
Results
Who will make the first move in family purchase
decisions? As reported in Figure 1, in two-thirds of
the situations in Fiji (65 percent), and Tonga (71
percent) the child initiates the purchase decision
process. In the Cook Islands, the trend remains the
same, although the childs initiation will take the
form of requests or demands. Just over 50
percent of the time children in Fiji (55 percent)
and the Cook Islands (55 percent) made a polite
request, whereas in Tonga the number came down
to 43 percent of the situations. The data reveal that
the children in Tonga are more demanding (22
percent) compared to their counterparts in Fiji (16
percent) and the Cook Islands (12 percent).
What would be the parents response to
childrens requests and/or demands? If it was
a polite request, in 51 percent of the situations
parents in Fiji responded favourably, whereas in
Tonga, only 17 percent of the situations generated
a favourable response from the parents; in the
Cook Island it was 35 percent of the time. Even if it
was an aggressive demand the parents in Fiji and
the Cook Island were not unwilling to yield to their
childrens claims. The complete rejection was
evident only in 1 percent of the situations in Fiji, 8
percent in Tonga and 2 percent of the situations in
the Cook Islands.
In response to the parents invitation and/or
direction what sort of response did the children
give? In approximately 20 percent of the
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Jayantha S. Wimalasiri
Influence tactics
The second part of the study dealt with influencing
tactics used by the children in getting their parents
to purchase what they fancied. As reported in
Table III, the children in the Cook Islands ranked
ingratiation, exchange and persuasion as the most
Table III Rank order of influence strategies used by the children in each of the three
nations
Tactics
Consultation
Inspirational appeal
Exchange tactics
Upward appeal
Ingratiation
Coalition tactics
Rational persuasion
Pressure tactics
Cook Islandsa
Mean
Rank
4.3
3.6
5.5
3.8
5.7
4.5
4.8
3.5
5
6
2
7
1
4
3
8
Fiji Islandsb
Mean
Rank
5.8
4.8
4.9
4.1
4.6
4.2
4.4
3.0
1
3
2
7
4
6
5
8
Tongac
Mean
Rank
5.3
4.6
4.3
5.0
5.1
4.2
3.8
3.5
1
4
5
3
2
6
7
8
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to determine the
parent-child interaction process in making
purchase decisions, and to assess the extent of
influence tactics used by children to fulfill their
wants.
Parents have always perceived their children as
influencers or even nagging influencers, on a wide
variety of products and services (McNeal, 1969,
1987, 1992). When the initiation comes from the
child and when it is a polite request, most parents
in the three nations tend to oblige (Fiji, 51 percent;
Cook Islands, 35 percent; and Tonga, 17
percent)). Even if it was a demand, (which was
relatively infrequent) the rate of rejection was
minimal (Fiji, 1 percent; Tonga, 8 percent; Cook
Island, 2 percent). The South Pacific Islanders do
not seem to have the guilt feeling towards their
children probably because of their strong
commitment to the childrens well-being. Yet,
parents do expect due respect from their children
and exercise authority over them wherever
necessary.
A major predictor of conflict and unhappiness is
the negative response of one party to the other
partys initiative. Cases where parent denied the
childs initiative were substantially less in the
Pacific Islands. As shown in Figure 1, only a small
minority of parent-child interaction sequences
resulted in either conflict or unhappiness on the
part of the child.
With reference to influence tactics, the most
preferred tactics were consultation, exchange,
inspirational appeal and ingratiation. These
appear to be relevant and meaningful influence
tactics that help to bridge the gap between power
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Jayantha S. Wimalasiri
Related issues
The main purpose of this paper was to investigate
the influence tactics used by the children in specific
situations. It leaves out much of the discussion
pertaining to parental influence on children. Yet, it
is recognized that behavioral concepts such as
leadership style, use of power and cultural values
are relevant areas in explaining the behavior of
parents towards their children.
Authoritarian parents, for example, are likely to
determine unilaterally what is good for their
children, set standards, decide tasks, and assign
work. They do not reveal standards of praise or
criticism (Donaghy, 1975). In the directive style,
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Jayantha S. Wimalasiri
Limitations
The small sample size does not warrant
generalizations across the Pacific Islands, although
most islanders share the same or similar cultural
heritage. The paper leaves out much of discussion
on such behavioral concepts as, leadership, power,
culture and the environment. Any discussion of
parental influence on childrens behavior was
ignored. While the household unit is central to the
decision making process, media is an important
means by which children (and parents) learn
consumption related behaviors and attitudes (Hite
and Eck, 1987). It is hypothesized that those who
are repeatedly exposed to media have different
influencing strategies as compared to those who
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Jayantha S. Wimalasiri
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Further reading
McNeal, J.U. (1990), Children as customers, American
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in Fatiaki, A. (Ed.), Rotuma: Hanua Pumue (Precious Land),
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