INFLUENCE OF CHILDREN IN FMCG PRODUCTS

SUBMITTED BY

V.NITTYANANDAM(3510920078)
CHILDREN IN FAMILY PURCHASE DECISION MAKING IN INDIA AND THE
WEST: A REVIEW

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Children constitute an important target market segment and merit attention from a marketing
perspective. The role that children play in making decisions concerning the entire family unit
has prompted researchers to direct attention to the study of influence of children. The amount
of influence exerted by children varies by product category and stage of the decision making
process. For some products, they are active initiators, information seekers, and buyers;
whereas for other product categories, they influence purchases made by the parents. The
purchasing act is governed by how they have been socialized to act as consumers. Family,
peers, and media are key socializing agents for children wherein family-specific
characteristics such as parental style, family’s Sex Role Orientation (SRO), and patterns of
communication play key roles. More so, changes taking place in the socio-cultural
environment in India (such as emergence of dual-career, single parent families) entail that
dimensions of children’s influence in family purchase decision making be investigated in a
specific context. Indian society vastly differs from the West in terms of family composition
and structure, values, norms, and behavior, which affect the role that children play in
purchase decision making in families. Hence, the aim of this paper is not only to explore the
dimensions already investigated by previous researchers in India and Western countries but
also to identify directions for future research.

Research on family decision making has been largely confined to spouses, who have
been considered as the relevant decision making unit in a family. However, the role of third
party influences, such as children, on decision making strategies and negotiations is essential
to taking a broader view of the relevant unit of analysis. Traditionally, women were seen to
be the purchasing agents for the family. Nonetheless, increasing participation of women in
the workforce has prompted a shift in this role as children are increasingly the “buyers” for
the entire family. Even in families where women do not work, children are observed to share
this role with their mothers. Children enjoy greater discretion not only in making routine
consumption decisions for the family but also in pestering their parents to buy other products
desired by them. Contemporary researchers express that children constitute a major consumer
market, with direct purchasing power for snacks and sweets, and indirect purchase influence
while shopping for big-ticket items (Halan, 2002; Singh, 1998). Indian children have recently
attracted considerable attention from marketers because the market for children’s products
offers tremendous potential (pegged at Rs. 5000 crore/$1110mn) and is rapidly growing.
According to available industry data, the chocolate and confectionary market is estimated at
Rs. 1300 crore/$290mn, the apparel market at Rs. 480 crore/$110mn and kids footwear at Rs.
1000 crore/$220mn (Bhushan, 2002). In addition to this, 54% of India is estimated to be
under the age of 25 (Bansal, 2004).
Children constitute three different markets: the primary, the influencer, and the future market
(Figure 1). Certain products are simply children’s products for which they are the primary
users/buyers. They sometimes either purchase a product themselves or select the product
before it is purchased by the parents. For other products, such as ones which are used by the
entire family unit, they may influence purchases made by the parents. There are some
products where children wield direct influence or pester power by overtly specifying their
preferences and voicing them aloud. For other products, parents’ buying patterns are affected
by prior knowledge of the tastes and preferences of their children. This ‘passive dictation’ of
choice is prevalent for a wide variety of daily consumed product items as well as products for
household consumption. Also, decision making in households is seen to change with the mere
presence of children. The nature of joint decisions in couple decision making units and family
decision making units is seen to be different (Filiatrault and Ritchie, 1980). It is also observed
that children are socialized by their parents to act as rational consumers. After years of direct
or indirect observation of parental behaviour in the marketplace, they gradually acquire
relevant consumer skills from their parents.
The amount of influence exerted by children varies by product category and stage of the
decision making process. For certain products they are instrumental in initiating a purchase,
while for others, they make the final selections themselves. The purchasing act is governed
by how they have been socialized to act as consumers. Family, peers and media are key
socializing agents for children wherein family-specific characteristics such as parental style,
family’s Sex Role Orientation (SRO), and patterns of communication play key roles. The
structure of Indian families has been previously characterized as joint families with
traditional SRO (that is, the husband predominated in all family affairs). However, owing to
influences from the West, the structure of Indian families has changed to nuclear or extended
families (nuclear families plus grandparents). The Indian families have become more modern
in SRO, such that the decision making has become more egalitarian (Chadha, 1995; Dhobal,
1999). Compared to this, the West is experiencing an increase in the number of single parent
or female-headed households (Ahuja and Stinson, 1993; Mangleburg et al., 1999). Such a
shift in family composition and structure has a bearing on the strength in the role that children
are expected to play as buyers in the family.
Children as Influencers

In India, the literature on family decision making is scant and researchers have only partially
investigated the role of children along with other members in family purchase decision
making. Family structures are undergoing a metamorphosis and the Indian society is also
witnessing an increase in the number of single parent and dual career families. Though an
impressive body of research exists in this field in the West, these parameters also merit
investigation in different cultural settings. Studies specific to Indian marketing environment
are necessary, as pointed by Webster (2000), “India is an interesting culture in which to
explore the antecedents of marital power because its social and intellectual grains operate in
ways vastly different from those the West takes for granted. For instance, unlike western
culture, where the nuclear and neo local families are both the ideological and factual norm,
the joint family has been and continues to be an important element of Indian culture” (p.
1037). Hence, the objective of this paper is to examine and critically evaluate the avenues
already explored by previous researchers in India and abroad, and identify opportunities for
future research. A brief summary of research on influence of children in family purchase
decision making in the West and in India has been summarized in Table 1 and Table 2
respectively.

ROLE OF CHILDREN IN FAMILY PURCHASE DECISION MAKING

Influence of children varies by poduct, product sub-decision, stage of the decision–making
process, nature of socializating of children, families’ gender role orientation, demographic
features such as age and gender, and also by respondent selected for investigation of
relativeinfluence (Belch et al., 1985). The following sections contain a brief review of
research carried out in this context.
INFLUENCE OF CHILDREN BY PRODUCT CATEGORY
In Western literature, children have been reported to wield a lot of influence in purchase
decisions for children products such as snacks (Ahuja and Stinson, 1993); toys (Burns and
Harrison, 1985; Jensen, 1995; Williams and Veeck, 1998); children’s wear (Converse and
Crawford, 1949; Foxman and Tansuhaj, 1988; Holdert and Antonides, 1997; Van Syckle,
1951); and cereals (Belch et al., 1985; Berey and Pollay, 1968). Children have been observed
to influence decisions for family products also, such as holiday/vacations (Ahuja and Stinson,
1993; Belch et al., 1985; Dunne, 1999; Holdert and Antonides, 1997; Jenkins, 1979); movies
(Darley and Lim, 1986); and eating at particular restaurants or even decision making for the
family to eat out (Filiatrault and Ritchie, 1980; Williams and Veeck, 1998). Some researchers
investigated the role children play in purchase of children and family products together
(Foxman and Tansuhaj, 1988; Geuens et al., 2002; Hall et al., 1995; Mangleburg et al., 1999;
McNeal and Yeh, 1997). Jensen (1995) studied three categories of products—those that are
primarily for children (e.g., toys, candy), products for family consumption (food, shampoo,
toothpaste), and parents’ products (gasoline, coffee, rice). Similarly, Johnson (1995) selected
products as categorized by Sheth (1974)—products for individual use, those for family use,
and finally products for the household.
The influence of children across product categories and parental responses has been studied
with respect to various factors and some studies in this context have been reviewed here.
Berey and Pollay (1968) studied mother and child dyads making purchases of ready-to-eat
breakfast cereals. They noted that most products are not directly available to a child and the
parents generally act as intermediary purchasing agents for the child. In such cases, the extent
of influence a child may have on a parent’s purchase decision depends on at least two factors:
the child’s assertiveness and the parent’s child-centeredness. They hypothesized that the more
assertive the child, or the more child-centered the mother, the more likely the mother will
purchase child’s favorite brands. However, they found that the mother played a “gatekeeper”
role and bought cereals that weighed strongly on nutrition. In cases of disagreement with the
child over brand decisions, the mother tried to superimpose her preferences over those of the
child. They reasoned such outcomes stem from the mother’s perception of the quality of
information possessed by the child. Yet, they found that assertiveness by a child could
increase the likelihood of the child having his/her favorite brands purchased. Chan and
McNeal (2003), in a study of Chinese parents, also reported that parents indulged in
considerable gate keeping for children’s products. They exhibited strict control over the kinds
of products that children can or cannot buy while at the same time allowing children some
freedom in choosing brands of permissible products. Atkin (1978) pointed out that children
tend to rely on pre-established preferences based more often on premium incentives offered
on a purchase than the nutritional features of a cereal at the time of influencing cereal
purchases.
Mehrotra and Torges (1977) and Williams and Veeck (1998) further noted that no particular
attitude or set of attitudes uniquely determines for all products whether a mother would be
influenced by her child or not. Child-centered mothers were more likely to be influenced by
their children and family-oriented mothers or women with close knit families were more
susceptible to children’s influence. Mothers co-viewing TV programs along with their
children were more likely to yield to children’s influencing attempts for products advertised
on those shows.
 Table 1
Summary of Research in the West on Influence of Children in Family Purchase
Decision Making
Author(s) Objective of the study Respondents for the
study
Relative Influence of Children in Purchase Decision Making
Berey and Pollay (1968) Examined the influencing mother and child
role of child in family
decision making for
purchase of cereals
Ward and Wackman (1972) Investigated children’s mothers
purchase influence
attempts and parental
yielding
Mehrotra, and Torges (1977) Explored the factors mothers only
determining children’s
influence on mothers’
buying behavior
Atkin (1978) Observed parent-child mothers only
interaction in the
supermarket for purchase
of cereals and snacks
Foxman and Tansuhaj (1988) Investigated adolescents mother and child
and mothers perceptions of
relative influence of each
other in family decisions
Foxman, Tansuhaj, and Ekstrom (1989) Explored family members' mother, father and the child
perception of adolescents triad
influence in family
decision-making
Ahuja and Stinson (1993) Explored children’s Mothers in mother-headed
influence in family household
decision making in female-
headed single- parent
families
Jensen (1995) Studied purchase influence self-reports from children
attempts by children in
Denmark; the location and
cause of requests and
parental responses to the
same. The relationship
between parents’ consumer
teaching orientation and
family demographics has
also been investigated
Holdert and Antonides (1997) Investigated effect of mother, father and the child
family type (distribution of triad
power and cohesion) on
stages of decision making
 process and conflict
resolution strategies
employed by families
Williams and Burns (2000) Explored the Mother and child
dimensionality of
children’s direct influence
attempts
Geuens, Mast, and Pelsmacker (2002) Researched on the role of Child and either parent
family structure (one
versus two parent families,
two income families and
number of working hours
and number of children per
family) on children’s
influence
Lee and Beatty (2002) Investigated the role of Parents and children
family structure on
influence of children in
family decision making
Media effects on Children
Goldberg, Gorn, and Gibson (1978) Contrasted the effects of children
TV messages for high and
low nutritional foods on
children’s snack and
breakfast food choices
Lindquist (1979) Investigated attitudes of children
elementary school children
towards advertising on TV,
Radio, children’s
magazines and comic
books
Moschis and Churchill (1979) Analyzed the adolescent Self-reports from children
consumer for attitude
towards advertising, stores,
prices etc.
Gorn and Florsheim (1985) Examined the effects of children
commercials for adult
products on children
Moschis and Mitchell (1986) Investigated effect of TV either parent
advertising and
interpersonal influences
(family and peers) and
social structural variables
on teenagers’ participation
in family consumption
decisions
Boush, Friestad, and Rose (1994) Examined adolescent children
skepticism toward TV
advertising and knowledge
 of advertiser tactics
Mizerski (1995) Explored the relationship children
between cartoon trade
character recognition and
attitude toward product
category in young children
Kraak, and Pelletier (1998) Investigated the influence Secondary data used
of commercialism on the
food purchasing behavior
of children and teenage
youth
Moore and Lutz (2000) Studied the effect of multi-method approach
advertising and product
experiences on children
Chan (2001) Studied children’s attitude children
and perceived truthfulness
of TV advertising and
parental influence in Hong
Kong
Kunkel, Wilcox, Cantor, Palmer, Linn, and Conceptualized the -------------------
Dowrick (2004) psychological issues in the
increasing
commercialization of
childhood
Socialization of Children
Moschis and Moore (1979) Examined decision making children
patterns among teenage
consumers
Ekstrom, Tansuhaj, and Foxman (1987) Conceptualized on ---------------
children’s influence in
family decisions and
consumer socialization
taking a reciprocal view
Carlson and Grossbart (1988) Investigated parental styles mothers
and consumer socialization
of children
Children’s influence is also seen to vary by who is the user and the perceived importance of
the product to the user (Beatty and Talpade, 1994; Foxman and Tansuhaj, 1988). Jensen
(1995) proposed that parents’ involvement is a function of financial risk, their role as users,
and their perception of product differentiation whereas children are mostly involved in the
purchase due to their role as users. She explored the influence of children in making
purchases and concluded that besides products for direct consumption, children display
influence in purchasing products for family consumption where parents are less involved and
perceive little or no product differentiation (for food products). Geuens et al. (2002) observed
that the relative influence of children varies by the extent to which the parents are busy.
Foxman et al. (1989) concluded that children tend to have more “say” in the purchase of
products that are less expensive and for their own use. Several factors were found to
significantly affect agreement among family members regarding adolescent purchase
decision influence: families witnessing greater influence had older fathers, a concept-oriented
communication style, fewer children, and a mother who worked fewer hours outside the
house.

Summary of Research in India on Influence of Children in Family Purchase Decision

Making

Palan and Wilkes (1997) observed adolescent-parent interaction in decision making

and reported that besides direct requests, adolescents are likely to use bargaining (money
deals, other deals, and reasoning) and persuasion (opinions, begging) as strategies to
influence decision outcomes.
In India, Singh (1992) studied the role played by family members while purchasing a
television across five occupational categories: teachers, doctors, businesspeople, lawyers, and
engineers. Children of engineers and doctors were found to have remarkable influence in the
purchase decision. Hundal (2001) in a study of rural buying behavior in the Amritsar district
of Punjab investigated the role of family members in making purchase decisions for durables
including refrigerators, televisions, air coolers, and washing machines. His findings projected
that product selection decisions in rural families were mostly made by spouses together but
they were highly influenced by children. Halan (2002) opines that “marketing to kids is no
longer kid stuff” (p.46). In a focus group study by Kids-Link, the market research group of
Kid Stuff Promos and Events, with boys and girls in the age group of 13-15 years in Delhi,
girls estimated that they were able to influence 50 percent of the decisions. The study
highlighted that kids have a lot of information because of exposure to television, other media,
and friends. They reflected that parents sought their opinion even in making purchase of
products not directly related to the children, such as cars, because of their higher knowledge
of brands, models, and the latest trends. Also, children stated that parents bought products
that made the kids happy.
Implications
Studies reporting children’s influence across product categories have especially focused on
products directly consumed by children. In the Western literature, a host of studies have dealt
with breakfast cereals. Since ready-to-eat breakfast cereals are less popular than preferred
freshly cooked food in India, influence for this product purchase has not been dealt with. The
market for branded snacks, toys, and confectionery is growing in India, making a need for
future research. While Western authors have categorized products for direct consumption by
the child, or parents, or for the household, Indian researchers have not followed this typology.
Researchers in India have generally focused on durable purchases (such as computers or
TVs). They have not specifically questioned whether this product is for use by the child or for
the family (since ownership affects involvement in decision making). Moreover, purchase
influence should be examined after categorizing products as minor and major products (as
proposed by Kim and Lee(1997)). Western researchers have also noticed discrepancies in
reports of children’s influence in family purchase decision making. This can be attributed to
the fact that most researchers have not differentiated between active versus passive influence
and knowingly or unknowingly neglected the study of passive influence by children. The
study of both active and passive influence is important (Commuri and Gentry, 2000) and,
though the study of passive dictation by children is more challenging, it is an important facet
deeming further research by Indian as well as Western researchers.

CHILDREN’S INFLUENCE ACROSS STAGES OF DECISION MAKING PROCESS

Since family decisions are dynamic and interrelated, Douglas (1983) and Mangleburg (1990)
suggested that the decision making process should be studied across decisions rather than in
relation to a given decision independently.
Szybillo and Sosanie (1977), while examining family decision making processes, observed
that all members of the family (husband, wife, and children) were greatly involved in all three
decision stages (problem recognition, search for information and final selection), when
considering a fast food restaurant and a family trip (that is, for products that affect the entire
family). The wife/child dyad was very important in initiating a purchase and providing
information. Other researchers have also observed that children exert considerable influence
during the problem recognition and search stages and the least influence in the final decision
stage (Belch et al, 1985; Filiatrault and Ritchie, 1980; Hempel, 1974) for family activities
such as choice of vacations and restaurants and consumer durables. However, Holdert and
Antonides (1997) reported that children’s influence was higher in the later stages of the
decision making process; that is, at the time of alternative evaluation, choice, and purchase
for four purchases (holidays, adult and child clothing, and sandwich filling). Recently, Belch
et al. (2005) proposed that since teenagers are high users of the Internet, they have greater
access to market information which could impact their influence in family decision making.
They found that teens who perceive themselves to be ‘Internet mavens’ (individuals who are
relied upon more for providing information from the virtual marketplace), as well as their
parents, believed that teens were more influential in all stages—initiation and information
search, and alternative evaluation and final decision stages. However, their influence was
higher in the initiation and information search stages as compared to alternative evaluation
and final decision stages.
Children were not seen to have a large impact on instrumental decisions such as how much to
spend (Belch et al., 1985; Jenkins, 1979; Szybillo and Sosanie, 1977), but do have on
expressive decisions such as color, model, brand, shape and time of purchase (Belch et
al.,1985; Darley and Lim, 1986). However, Williams and Veeck (1998) reported that in
China, where most families have a single child, the child exerted considerable influence
during all stages while buying products for family use. Beatty and Talpade (1994) suggested
that teens’ knowledge affects their perceived influence in the search for information in the
decision process for some products such as the family stereo. The teens’ financial clout seems
to allow them greater say in initiating self-purchases, but not in family purchases. Parents’
dual income status allows adolescents greater influence in some family durable purchases,
but this does not affect self purchases where their influence is already substantial. These
effects are pronounced for products that teens care for (e.g., stereo) and use often (e.g.,
telephone).
While studying Indian families, Singh (1992) noted that families differed with respect to their
roles in making purchase sub decisions. The “when to purchase” decision was generally
syncratic (decided by the husband and wife jointly) and also influenced by children. Hundal
(2001) noted that brand selection decisions were also made jointly by the couple but were
importantlyinfluenced by children in the family. The store where the durables were purchased
as well as the making of the actual purchase decision was also decided jointly or by the
husband individually (for three durables, but not for air coolers). However, children also
“went to buy,” that is accompanied their parents at the time of buying televisions, washing
machines, and refrigerators. Kapoor (2001) collected information from families in Delhi in
regard to their roles across stages of purchase decision-making for six durables—televisions,
refrigerators, washing machines, personal computers, audio systems, and cars. She found that
individual members were associated with multiple roles. The initiator for purchase in a family
was typically a young female member, who was likely to be the wife or one of the children.
She illustrated that the need for an audio system, personal computer, and television was likely
to be first expressed by the children in the family. As influencers, younger members,
especially children, were found to affect purchase of a personal computer, audio system, and
television. The final purchases were found to be decided upon after consultation with other
family members, mainly the husband. Children have not been observed to have a large impact
on instrumental decisions such as how much to spend (Kaur, 2003; Singh and Kaur, 2004;
Verma, 1982), but rather play a role while making expressive decisions such as color, model,
brand, shape, and time of purchase (Sen Gupta and Verma, 2000; Singh, 1992; Singh and
Kaur, 2003; Synovate, 2004) as validated in the West as well. Kaur and Singh (2004)
observed that children are individually active in initiating the idea to purchase a durable. In
other stages of the decision making process, they exhibit joint influence along with other
members of the family. This implies that they provide support to the member exerting
influence to increase pressure but do not wield much influence individually. Chadha (1995)
concluded that in the older age group household’s sons and daughters emerge as key persons
to introduce new products in the house.

Implications
Research in this context actually describes the process of decision making undergone by the
families at the time of making purchases. In India as well as in the West, there is consensus
among researchers that besides the nature of the product, the influence of children varies by
the stage of decision making process. While Western researchers have taken into account the
effect of family type and composition, sex role orientation, parental style, pattern of
communication, etc., to bring out a complete picture regarding the role of children, the Indian
literature is more limited in this regard. Indian authors have gauged the influence of children
only partially and have generally focused on spouses or all family members. Research
centering on children especially is needed.

MEDIA EFFECTS ON CHILDREN

There is great concern about children as viewers of advertisements primarily because young
children are exposed to thousands of commercials each year in India (George, 2003) as well
as in the West (Kunkel et al., 2004). Marketers use television as a medium of communication
since it affords access to children at much earlier ages than print media can accomplish,
largely because textual literacy does not develop until many years after children have become
regular television viewers. Approximately, 80% of all advertising targeted to children falls
within four product categories: toys, cereals, candies, and fast-food restaurants (Kunkel and
Gantz, 1992). Young children are able to differentiate between a TV program and a
commercial but are unable to understand the intent of an advertisement until they are 8-10
years of age (Goldberg et al, 1978). According to Seiter (1993), advertising to children avoids
any appeal to the rational, emphasizing instead that ads are for entertainment and “enjoyable
for their own sake” as opposed to providing any real consumer information (p. 105). The
most common persuasive strategy employed in advertising to children is to associate the
product with fun and happiness, rather than to provide any factual product-related
information. Hence, children in the age category 8-10 years have apositive attitude towards
advertisements. Knowledge of advertising tactics and appeals emerges only in early
adolescence and develops thereafter (Boush, Friestad and Rose, 1994). John (1999) notes that
“the ability to recognize bias and deception in ads, coupled with an understanding of
advertising’s persuasive intent, results in less trust and less liking of commercials” (p. 190).
With increasing age, children’s attitude towards ads changes from being positive to negative
and further as children step into adolescence, they become skeptical of advertising. Boush et
al. (1994) concluded that children in young adolescence even exhibited mistrustful
predispositions towards advertising. In adolescents, knowledge about advertiser tactics
increased with age. Higher levels of knowledge of advertiser tactics and certain personality
variables were positively related to adolescents’ skepticism towards advertising. Moschis and
Churchill (1979) and Moschis (1987) also found that older adolescents tended to—1) develop
resistance to persuasive advertising, 2) understand better the marketing strategies related to
the pricing of products, and 3) generally become more sophisticated as consumers.
Attention to commercials has also been found to be directly related to the perceived
truthfulness of advertising. Children who perceive commercials to be mostly true pay more
attention to them than those who suspect them (Chan, 2001). Mizerski (1995) found that
adults-oriented product trade characters were also readily recognized by children as young as
three years of age. Gorn and Florsheim (1985) examined the effect of commercials for adult
products on children and found that such exposure does have an effect but that it is mainly a
function of the product category advertised. In general, exposure to commercials led to only a
small change in response. Mizerski (1995) concluded that recognition, or the ability to match
a cartoon trade character and product, is positively related to age. Along with this, the level of
recognition and a favorable attitude towards the product were also found to be positively
associated with age. Jensen (1995) also found that purchase requests by children are strongly
stimulated by commercials or by friends who have purchased the product. Mallalieu et al.
(2005) reported that children born in the 1990s appear to have developed these cognitive
abilities (for example, to differentiate between a programme and a commercial or to
understand the purpose and intent of advertising) to a far greater extent than children reported
in earlier studies (Goldberg et al., 1978; Boush et al., 1994).
The impact of television advertising on preschool and elementary school-aged children
occurs at multiple levels, including the relatively immediate product-persuasion effects
intended by the advertiser, as well as broader and/or more cumulative types of influences that
accrue from exposure to large numbers of commercials over time. For example, a cereal ad
may have the immediate effect of generating product-purchase requests and increasing
product consumption, but it may also contribute to outcomes such as misperceptions about
proper nutritional habits (Kunkel et al., 2004). Celebrities and cartoon characters are
commonly used by marketers, as children’s views of advertising appeals are largely
influenced by them. The practice is largely witnessed in restaurants giving small toys as a
token of remembrance to children such as McDonalds (Williams and Veeck, 1998), or
associating a cartoon character with a cereal.
Since ads are particularly effective in persuading children to like and request the product
(Goldberg, Gorn, and Gibson, 1978), rejection of requests further enhances chances for
arousal of conflicts between parents and children (Atkin, 1978; Kunkel et al., 2004). The
concern here, of course, is due to commercials for candies, snacks, and sugared cereals far
outnumbering commercials for more healthy or nutritious food (Kunkel and Gantz, 1992).
A vast number of children have been found to watch television in India and prefer it to
reading (George, 2003). Singh (1998) in India, like Jensen (1995) in the U.S., also found that
purchase requests by children are strongly stimulated by commercials or by a friend who has
recently purchased a product. Retention of advertisements was high among children (for age
group 5-15years), but the percentage of final purchases prompted by exposure to
advertisements was low at 30 percent. This was because the most reliable source for
discussion, before buying products, was the family and the child also used his own
intelligence and experience to solve the purchase problem. Kapoor and Verma (2005)
investigated children’s understanding of TV advertising in a comprehensive study in Delhi.
Their findings revealed that children as young as six years could understand the purpose of
TV ads and distinguish between a commercial and a TV program. With an increase in the age
of the child, cognitive understanding of the ad increased and children above the age of eight
years were able to respond to TV ads in a mature and informed manner. Heavy viewing was
positively associated with favorable attitudes towards TV ads and, conversely, interest in ads
declined with age. Children’s exposure to TV ads was determined to a large extent by
parents’ control of their viewing. Parent-child interaction played an important role in the
children’s learning of positive consumer values and their parents perceiving the influence as
positive on their children’s buying response. Both parents and children noted the impact of
TV ads on children’s purchase requests.

Implications
The impact of media has been widely researched in the West. The attitude of children
towards commercials for adult products has been dealt with, with the conjecture that
children’s involvement in commercials leads to (affects) their purchase behavior as adults.
This interest in adult products could also be aroused since one or more members in the family
may be buying and using the product/brand and the child (ren) is/are also involved in its
purchase, either directly or subtly. Therefore, the cause for the attention and interest in
commercials, such as humor or the use of a celebrity, should be investigated. The importance
of media as a source of information and influence over children should be compared with
other elements of the social group such as peers to know the type of information preferred
from each source. Media are seen to serve as sources of socialization for children, but their
exact impact needs further investigation to help marketers in framing and directing messages.
In contrast to this, very few studies in India have focused on the impact of media as sources
of information and as a socialisation agent, affecting family purchases. Given the exposure
and influence of media (including internet) on children, it is imperative that future research
should be planned to determine children’s attitude towards advertising, and the impact of
creative elements.

MANAGEMENT OF PARENT-CHILDREN CONFLICT OVER PURCHASE

DECISIONS
Although serious conflicts in family purchase decisions are rare, some form of family conflict
is highly probable, because forming joint preferences requires combining individual
preferences of family members (Lee and Collins, 1999). When various alternatives are being
considered, each member attempts to influence the other towards his/her preferred decision.
A variety of influence techniques are used depending upon the nature of purchase, the
characteristics of individuals participating in the purchase discussion, and its importance to
the individual. These situations, during negotiation, may result in a preference agreement or a
compromise. Nevertheless, differences in the desirability of a purchase outcome may lead to
disagreement or conflict. Such situations mean that there will be attempts either to
accommodate or resolve the conflict before a joint decision outcome occurs. Sheth (1974)
suggests that family members’ attempts to resolve conflict(s) are tactically different and
varied in appropriateness, depending upon the cause of the conflict.
A repertoire of such strategies has been proposed and validated in the literature for spousal
conflicts (Kim and Lee, 1996; Nelson, 1988; Sheth, 1974); some researchers have extended
the same to include children as well in the family. Belch et al. (1980) found little
disagreement among family members, but there was some variation across product classes.
The amount of disagreement is relatively low for decisions such as where to buy and when to
buy, but it is higher for decisions concerning how much money to spend. Children perceived
the existence of conflict more than their parents. Buss and Schaninger (1987) reported that
conflict can be managed in two ways—by either using avoidance tactics or resolution tactics.
Since product type has been seen to effect involvement and influence of children, the nature
of the product can also be important in determining the choice of conflict resolution strategy.
Johnson (1995) found that product type is an important variable in determining the way
children will behave in family decision making. She observed that bargaining was the most
common strategy adopted by children when trying to influence the purchase of products for
personal use. Conflict avoidance was most commonly used for family use products.
However, for products for home use, such as a personal computer, they resorted to problem
solving tactics to resolve conflicts. The author also pointed out that while bargaining is most
common in dyadic interactions (Qualls and Jaffe, 1992), problem solving is more frequent in
triadic interactions between mother, father, and child. These results supported the results of
Belch et al. (1980) and were further confirmed in a study conducted by Holdert and
Antonides (1997). In the study by Belch et al. (1980), it was found that children see the
problem solving strategies being used less often. It was felt that children were either not a
part of the decision making process for those products or that discussions took place outside
the presence of children. A significant relationship was also found to exist between the
situation in which the family purchase decision making occurred (for example,
presence/absence of a family member, decision taken in the retail shop) and the choice of a
conflict resolution strategy.
Lee and Collins (1999) proposed that when more than two family members are in conflict
during the purchase decision process, the third parties (children) may form alliances to aid
one side against the other. They investigated patterns of influence and coalition patterns
across three stages of the decision making process, namely Configuration (synonymous with
problem recognition and search for information), Negotiation (synonymous with evaluation
of alternatives), and Outcome (final decision) stage. It was found that children tend to use
emotive strategies to gain influence. At the same time, the influence of family members
varies in response to the gender mix of the children. Daughters were generally more
influential than sons and the gender of elder children appeared to have more significance on
the influence structure of the family than that of younger children. Interestingly, fathers and
elder daughters and mothers and sons were found to work together to gain influence. The
influence of a mother in the family was the strongest during the Negotiation and Outcome
stage when both her children were male. Her influence was also strong if her first child was
male and the second child was a female. The mother-son and father-daughter pattern changed
when parents had two daughters. The father had less influence during the Configuration stage
when they had a younger daughter and his influence increased in the Outcome stage if the
couple had an elder daughter and a younger son. Moreover, mothers in two-girl families had
greater decision power than when the family had an elder daughter and a younger son.
Williams and Burns (2000), using social power theory, investigated the ways in which
children make direct influence attempts. They found that when children feel ‘entitled’ or
‘privileged’ to act in their own way, they resort to negative influence attempts such as
deception, displaying anger, begging, or pleading to exert influence. If they find that their
parents have the right or legitimate power to direct their actions, they utilize positive
influence attempts such as asking nicely, showing affection, or bargaining. When they feel
that they can manipulate their parents, they try to con/deceive the parents, display anger, or
beg and plead. If the children expect to be punished as a result of non-compliance, they
behave in ways as is perceived positive by the parents. This implies that when parents resort
to coercive tactics, the children try to have their own way by asking nicely, bargaining, or
showing affection. Many times children also express compliance in exchange for a future
gain; that is, they bargain for a future reward in exchange for a present one.

Implications
Conflicts have largely been investigated in the West using self-report methods wherein the
results tend to get distorted by the tendency of family members to give out socially desirable
responses. A study of actual behavior of family members, as proposed by Johnson (1995),
can yield fruitful insights in this situation. However, in India, little or no attention has been
paid to conflicts, their cause, and/or resolution in family purchase decision making. On one
side, consumption levels have risen in India owing to a decrease in size of families and
second, this has led to children’s preferences being accorded greater importance by parents.
In this light, children tend to exert more direct influence attempts, i.e. they are more active
participants in family purchase decision making. In such cases, refusal to comply with
children’s preferences can most often lead to conflicts between children and parents. Hence,
besides a stronger measurement approach, as required in the West, Indian researchers need to
understand and investigate this facet to understand fully the process of family decision
making.

SOCIALIZATION OF CHILDREN
The most widely used definition of consumer socialization is the one given by Ward (1974):
“It is the process by which young people acquire skills, knowledge and attitude relevant to
their functioning in the marketplace” (p.380). The process of consumer socialization begins
with infants, who accompany their parents to stores, where they are initially exposed to
marketing stimuli. Within the first two years, children begin to make requests for desired
products. As kids learn to walk, they also tend to make their own selections when they are in
stores. By around the age of five, most kids are making purchases with the help of parents
and grandparents, and by eight most are making independent purchases and have become full
fledged consumers (McNeal and Yeh, 1993, cited in Solomon, 2003).
Socialization of children is a function of parental style. Parental style is a “constellation of
attitudes toward the child that are communicated to the child and that, taken together, create
an emotional climate in which the parent’s behaviors are expressed” (Darling and Steinberg,
1993, p. 488). Differences in parental styles account for differences as regards to the way
parents attempt to control children’s behavior through use of emotions, use of authority, etc.
at the time of socializing them. Becker (1964) took a dimensional approach in which parental
style was assumed to consist of different dimensions that are orthogonal to each other. He
suggested that parental discipline behavior could be reflected by a three-dimensional model
to conceptualize family socialization—warmth vs. hostility, restrictiveness vs.
permissiveness, and calm detachment vs. anxious emotional involvement. On those
dimensions, parents were categorized as Rigid Controlling, Authoritarian, Organized
Effective, Overprotective, Democratic, Indulgent, Anxious Neurotic, and Neglecting (c f.
Carlson and Grossbart, 1988). Baumrind (1971) further developed a three-fold typology of
parental styles and classified parents as—Authoritarian, Authoritative, and Permissive. These
two approaches were merged further by Macoby and Martin (1983) so that the parenting
classification could be generalized to most families. They defined parental style as a function
of two dimensions—‘responsiveness’ and ‘demandingness.’ The parents were then classified
as Indulgent, Authoritative, Authoritarian, and Neglecting. Carlson, Grossbart, and Stuenkel
(1992) showed that parental style provides a theoretical basis for explaining differences
among parents regarding how they communicate consumer skills and knowledge to their
children. John (1999) classified consumer socialization stages of children as being the
perceptual stage (3-7 years), the analytical stage (7-11 years), and the reflective stage (11-16
years). On the basis of an exhaustive review, she contended that children in the perceptual
stage focus on perceptually salient features of products, use direct requests and emotional
appeals to influence purchases, and possess limited ability to adapt strategy to a person or a
situation. They are expedient in making decisions, are egocentric (as validated by Johnson,
1995), and have the emerging ability to adapt to cost-benefit trade-offs. However, children in
the analytical stage are more thoughtful, focus on important attribute information to generate
an expanded repertoire of strategies (especially non-compensatory ones), and are capable of
adapting strategies to tasks. In the reflective stage, children have substantial brand awareness
for adult-oriented as well as child-oriented product categories, possess ability to gather
information on functional, perceptual, and social aspects, and are capable of adapting
strategies to tasks in adult-like manner.
Paxton and John (1995), in their study of age differences in information search behavior of
children, found that older children gather more information for favorable product profiles and
less information when the cost-versus-benefit of acquiring information is high. Other studies
indicate that younger kids use few dimensions to compare and evaluate brands (Bahn, 1986;
Capon and Kuhn, 1980). They reported that children tend to rely on dominant perceptual
features (vs. functional features) of products in gathering information and making choices.
They also suggested that children increase the amount of information gathered in response to
choice situations that are irreversible, recognize the need to spend more time in gathering
information for decisions that are important to their perception, and voice the need to
examine more brands before making a choice (Davidson and Hudson, 1988). As the number
of alternatives increases, children restrict their search on more promising alternatives (Paxton
and John, 1997). Young children are apparently unstable about product preferences as they
lack or do not utilise an internal frame of reference for comparing products on a consistent
basis. The choice process/cue set used by younger children is different and simpler from the
categorisation schemes used by older children who use more structured cues to categorise
products (John and Lakshmi-Ratan, 1992).
In order to identify the extent to which shopping competence is developed in teenage girls,
Mallalieu and Palan (2006) developed a model of adolescent shopping competence in a
shopping mall context. They investigated whether teenage girls were competent shoppers or
whether they indulged in compulsive shopping behaviours. Shopping competence was
defined as a multi-faceted construct composed of effectively utilizing environmental
resources, having and using knowledge related to shopping, and possessing the degree of
self-confidence and self-control necessary to utilize environmental and individual-based
resources fully. The teenage girls described their mothers as being competent shoppers. The
results of discussions with teenage girls indicated that they exhibited competence in using
environmental and knowledge-based resources ‘partially.’ This implies that if they revealed
competency in some aspect of shopping, they came up short in other aspects they themselves
perceived as being associated with shopping competence. The girls’ responses also indicated
that they were lacking in self-confidence and self-control, and this also moderated the degree
to which the teenage girls utilized environmental and individual knowledge resources in
achieving positive shopping outcomes.
Moschis and Moore (1979) found that adolescents preferred to consult with their parents
and/or rely on information they receive from them. In spite of this, parents are not as
instrumental in the child’s decision regarding which product to buy as compared to brand
name and reduced prices. The amount of parent-adolescent communication about
consumption was not related to the adolescent’s propensity to use price in evaluating the
desirability of various products. Palan and Wilkes (1997) asserted that children are also
primed to assume a more active role in purchase iscussions after years of listening to their
parents explain why certain requests can/cannot be honored. It was projected that influence
attempts by adolescents are likely to be effective when they match their influence attempts to
their parents’ decision making style.
Ekstrom, Tansuhaj, and Foxman (1987) took a reciprocal view of consumer socialization of
children and proposed that children contribute to decision outcome through two routes—one
by influencing their parents by direct expression of preferences and secondly by
communicating new knowledge to the parents and influencing purchases. They proposed that
children whose family communication pattern is characterized by a high concept-orientation
will influence (socialize) their parents more than children whose family communication
pattern is characterized by a high socio-orientation. A child in a single-parent family, higher
socio-economic status, and higher personal resources and in a sex-role egalitarian family will
have more influence. A child will have greater influence for product purchase decisions that
he/she considers important or for which he/she has high product knowledge. His/her
participation in family decision making will tend to increase his/her satisfaction with family
purchase decisions.
Inter-generational influences in the formation of consumer attitudes have also been
investigated by Moore-Shay and Lutz (1988). Cotte and Wood (2004) also advanced this
stream by investigating inter- and intra-generational effects of family on consumer
socialization. They noted that parents and elder siblings’ perceived innovativeness has a
significant influence on the younger child’s innovativeness. The adult child’s innovativeness
was influenced by perceptions of their parent’s innovativeness. Further, the later one is born
(in terms of birth order), the more innovative one tends to be.
Besides family, mass media also serve as an important factor in the consumer socialisation of
children. Through mass media, children may learn about new brands and products (Goldberg,
Gorn and Gibson, 1978), how to use products and who uses them, realities and beliefs about
them (Gorn and Florsheim, 1985), and preferences for them (Gorn and Goldberg, 1977).
Nonetheless, as children grow they develop sensitivities towards interpersonal influences,
especially peers. The nature of the product affects the level of peer group influence. Public
luxuries and private necessities form the ends of the conspicuousness continuum, with public
luxuries being subject to significantly more influence than private necessities. In addition to
this, there is a tendency for public products of all types, regardless of whether they are
luxuries or necessities, to be subject to more reference group influence than private products
for all types (Childers and Rao, 1992).

Implications
Much has been learned in the field of consumer socialization of children in the West. Still,
more has to be learned in this field as the parameters investigated undergo a change, such as
the socialization of children in single- parent/step- parent families. As compared to the West,
Indian society is witnessing a tremendous increase in the number of dual career families and
nuclear and extended families. Some single-parent families are also emerging. Such changes
in family composition have a bearing on parental styles, communication frequency and
quality, and other relationships among family members. Indian society is still characterized
by a large rural population (nearly 75% of India’s total) with joint families. A comparison of
socialization patterns between these two sets of families (i.e. rural versus urban and joint
versus nuclear) can yield fruitful insights. Nonetheless, changes in family structure bring
about changes in the effects of other sources of socialization, such as peers and media. In
addition to this, parental styles are expected to differ by gender, gender composition, age, and
other socio-economic variables. It is suggested that Indian research should, therefore,
recognize such a variety of factors and that future research be guided in this direction.

ROLE OF COMMUNICATION IN SOCIALIZATION AND DECISION MAKING

Family communication is expected to affect children’s influence in family decision making.
McLeod and Chaffee (1972) developed a typology that characterizes parent-child
communication structure. The typology, used for more than two decades, classifies families
as having socio-oriented communication (emphasizing parental control) or concept-oriented
communication (in which children are encouraged to develop their own ideas and express
their views more openly). On the basis of the presence or absence of these two
communication patterns, they classify families into four types: laissez-faire, protective,
pluralistic, and consensual families. Laissez-faire families emphasize neither of the two
dimensions and there is little or no communication between parents and children. Protective
families emphasize the socio-orientation dimension, stressing obedience and social harmony,
and are not concerned with conceptual matters. Conversely, pluralistic families tend to stress
the concept-orientation dimension, with an emphasis being placed on mutuality of respect
and interests. Finally, consensual families stress both the socio- and concept orientation
dimensions, with the result that children are encouraged to explore the world about them, but
to do so without disrupting the family’s established social harmony (Moschis et al., 1986).
The study by Moschis et al. (1986) revealed that “pluralistic” adolescents were more likely to
have a negative attitude towards the marketplace, have strong preferences for brands, exhibit
greater purchasing independence, and hold egalitarian sex-role perceptions with syncratic
family role structures. This implies that they are quite competent consumers for that age.
“Protective” adolescents were similar to their “pluralistic” counterparts and differed only
under conditions of a husband-dominant role structure. In laissez-faire families, adolescents
were less likely to have preferences for brands and there was little interaction among family
members when conflict occurred. Since consensual families stressed both types of
orientations and presented conflicting alternatives and views to the child, these children had a
greater positive attitude towards the marketplace and experienced greater dissatisfaction with
products they bought/used.
Foxman, Tansuhaj, and Ekstrom (1989) investigated the perception of adolescents’ decision
influence, in general, and for specific products. The findings indicated that adolescents have
more influence in a concept-oriented environment and corroborated the suggestions made by
Moschis (1985) and Moschis et al. (1986). Adolescent involvement in consumer activity has
been measured in two ways—one, by measuring the frequency of consumption specific
communication between parents and children (Moschis, 1985) and another that measures the
pattern or quality of communication/interaction between parents and adolescents (Moschis et
al., 1986). Palan (1998) used both measures of frequency and quality, and noted the existence
of a positive relationship between consumption quality and consumption interaction. Here,
consumption interaction was defined as a parental process of purposefully teaching consumer
skills to children. Further, both communication quality and consumption interaction were
positively related to the consumer activity of adolescents.
Parent-child authoritarianism and parental coalition, taken together as family type, affect
communication and hence influence of the role children in family decision making. Family
communication patterns depend upon parental control of consumption and media usage
(Carlson and Grossbart, 1988; Chan and McNeal, 2003), parental style (Carlson and
Grossbart, 1988; Carlson et al., 1992), and advertising practices (Carlson et al., 1990). Chan
and McNeal (2003), in a study of Chinese parents, reported a high level of socio-oriented
communication and found that nearly forty percent of parents conformed to the consensual
family type. Parents with varied family structures differed in communication patterns with
respect to mediation of children’s television viewing. Chinese parents mediated television
viewing of children by co-viewing with them. Parental control of television viewing was very
high, though they seldom discussed the commercials they saw on television with their
children. It was further found that the parents who did discuss the commercials they saw on
television with their children exerted less influence over children’s television viewing.

Implications
Communication between parents and children has tremendous impact on the consumer
socialization of children. An impressive body of research exists in this field, yet it needs to be
explored further if familial norms of behavior are superimposed and have a mediating effect
when children are exposed to other social and reference group influences. Observational
learning or indirect influences of communication among family members on consumption
patterns of children are also grossly under-researched. The effect of communication is
sometimes gauged by taking parenting style as a surrogate variable. However, the two should
be treated individually while understanding children’s behavior as consumers. Previous
research has largely focused on the interaction between parent-child dyads but specific
parent-child dyad relations (mother-daughter or father-son) merit further consideration in
research in India and the West.

SEX ROLE ORIENTATION (SRO) AND INFLUENCE OF CHILDREN

As observed earlier, sex-role norms are those values and norms (both instrumental and
terminal) which are related to the duties and responsibilities of each sex and hence affect
participation of family members (Buss and Schaninger, 1983). More traditional SRO implies
greater husband dominance in decision making, while in modern families, joint decision
making by the family members is more common. Holdert and Antonides (1997) classified
families on modernity and traditionalism on the basis of power and cohesion. They described
traditional families as ones with strong traditional role differentiation and autonomous
decision-making, which paves way for the formation of coalitions among members, while
modern families are characterized by equal division of power between partners facilitating
joint decision-making and shorter power distance between parents and children. Talpade et al.
(1997) studied teenagers’ influence in a family durable purchase and a teenager durable
purchase. They found that teenagers with higher Hispanic ethnic identification were less
likely to have an influence on durable items purchased for the family; females were more
likely to have an influence on grocery purchases than males; and females were more likely
than males to agree with their mothers on the amount of influence they had. There were no
differences in high versus low ethnic identification in the influence on durable items
purchased for personal use by teenagers.
SRO brings about differences in norms of behavior for family members. Some researchers
have therefore compared role structures across cultures. Hempel (1974) studied family
buying decisions for houses in Connecticut and North England. Though his findings revealed
differences across cultures, his study was largely focused on spousal differences. He included
children but his study reported little contribution by them. Ward et al. (1986), while
examining patterns of children's purchase requests and parental responses to those requests
across three cultures (United States, Japan, and Great Britain), noted that age differences hold
across cultures and that culture itself is an important variable determining differences in
parent-child interaction regarding consumption. Parents of older children were more likely to
agree to buy requested products, and this held for all countries in their study. They also
pointed out that American children were heavy consumers of ads while children in Japan and
UK indulged in less consumption of advertising.
Gaumer and Shah (2004) also compared the TV viewing habits of children in Japan and
USA. Owing to greater TV viewership, understanding of advertisement content was higher
among American children. They concluded that American children are cynical and skeptical
purveyors of advertising and are more sophisticated when it comes to evaluating television
advertisements. However, their Japanese counterparts are more vulnerable to TV ads in terms
of not recognizing an embedded commercial. They compared patterns of consumer
socialization of children and found that differences existed across cultures (as already
established by Rose, 1999). Children in the United States are socialized to become distinct
autonomous individuals whereas in Japan, parents are generally indulgent towards their
children. Rose, Bush, and Kahle (1998) examined family communication patterns and general
attitudes towards TV advertising among mothers in the US and Japan. They found that
laissez-faire mothers had the most positive attitudes towards advertising, pluralistic and
consensual mothers held negative attitudes towards advertising, and protective mothers were
in between. Also, attitudes towards advertising were negatively related to mediation of
children’s exposure to TV advertising. American mothers were found to hold negative
attitudes toward both advertising in general and children’s advertising in particular, and kept
close control of the children’s viewing habits. To the contrary, Japanese mothers held a more
optimistic view of advertising and placed fewer controls over their children’s viewing habits.
Similar results were obtained by Mukherji (2005) when investigating family communication
patterns, advertising attitudes, and mediation behavior with urban middle-class mothers in
India. She compared the means of Indian, American, and Japanese mothers (from Rose et
al.’s (1998) study) and found that Indian mothers had the least negative attitudes toward
television advertising and children’s advertising. Further, the Indian mothers had least control
over their children’s television viewing of the three groups of mothers and had more
discussions with their children than her Japanese counterparts. The positive attitudes of
Indian mothers toward television advertising was attributed to the fact that ads were
associated with fulfilling utilitarian roles in informing and educating the viewer about new
product offerings, and that advertising in India is a relatively newer phenomenon since
broadcasting started only in 1985. Rose (1999) also confirmed differences in developmental
timetables of children in US and Japan. Japanese mothers held relatively late developmental
timetables and allowed few opportunities for independent consumption. American mothers,
in contrast, exhibited high levels of communication about consumption, held early
developmental timetables, and allowed their children more consumption autonomy than
Japanese mothers did. Bush et al. (1999) compared the influence of consumer socialization
variables on attitude towards TV advertising for African-Americans and Caucasians. They
found that African-Americans watch more TV and use TV more for guidance than did the
Caucasians examined. As regards to gender differences, women were found to have more
positive attitudes towards advertising than men.
Sundberg et al. (1969) compared family cohesiveness and autonomy of adolescents in India
and United States. In their study, they reported that Indian adolescents perceived their
families as being more cohesive than American youngsters, and American adolescents
perceived themselves as more autonomous and self-decisive than Indian youngsters. In both
cultures, the mother was seen as having significantly more power with daughters than with
sons. For the father, the converse was found to be true. The role of other family members and
others outside the family was small in both cultures, though it was seen to be greater in India.
Even those who did not live in large households showed inclinations for deep family ties to
the extended family; for example, young members would rely on older family members for
important decisions. They reported that Indians took close family relations for granted,
whereas American youngsters were more overtly concerned. American family security could
not be easily assured to a person because of individual responsibility in making major as well
as minor decisions. For that reason, Americans were observed to see themselves as being the
most important agents in decisions made about their own lives, whereas Indians saw their
fathers as being more or equally involved for such decisions. Bansal (2004) pointed out that
while in the West an 18-year-old is financially and emotionally independent, in India, this is
still not the case. The western world has found its response to the parent-youth conflict by
institutionalizing the culture of individualism. In India, parenting is and always has been a
lifelong occupation. Family and all it stands for is what the people venerate and celebrate.
But, India has now received full frontal exposure to the global youth culture. This is a culture
which puts 'me' before 'us,' which places the call of hedonism and hormones before 'values'
and 'morality.' Indian youth are redefining what constitutes a 'boundary' and parents are
wondering how to respond.

Implications
A family’s SRO is the underlying force that ultimately affects role and power in the
household decision making process. On the basis of SRO, Indian families (in varying
proportions) follow modern, moderate, and traditional sex-role norms of behavior. And
although India, particularly its urban areas, is witnessing some significant changes in the
economic and social status of women and the nature of the household structure, the pull
toward maintaining tradition is also quite strong (Webster, 2000). In metropolitan areas,
extensive foreign media exposure and the Internet revolution have contributed to the
emergence of a new social attitude which accepts Western values and culture. Mukherji
(2005), in her study, expected Japanese mothers and Indian mothers to be more socio-
oriented (since both cultures focus on collectivism), but the results contradicted this general
belief. The Indian sample was found to be more concept-oriented, a characteristic of mothers
who emphasize modernity. Studies like Sundberg et al. (1969) could be replicated to tap the
changes which have occurred over a period of time. In addition to this, the Indian market
offers tremendous potential and is rapidly growing. Inspite of this, cross-cultural researchers
have only recently paid attention to the Indian market, which should certainly be continued in
the future.

DEMOGRAPHICS
Researchers found that children exert more influence in higher income and larger families
(Foxman et al., 1989; Palan, 1998; Szybillo, Sosanie, and Tenenbein, 1977; Ward and
Wackman, 1972). The influence of children increases with age (Atkin, 1978; Darley and Lim,
1986; Mehrotra and Torges, 1977; Moschis and Mitchell, 1986) and the ability to
comprehend the content of advertising messages also increases with age (Lacznaik and Palan,
2004). Moschis and Moore (1979) found that a significant positive relationship exists
between adolescents’ socio-economic background and the extent of brand preferences for
various products. Age was related to the number of information sources preferred, and there
was also an increase with age in the propensity to prefer friends as a source of information.
Similarly, the tendency to rely on parents for information and advice decreased with age. It
was also found that as the ages of children increased, they preferred to shop without their
parents. Moschis and Churchill (1979) found positive relationships between the consumption
ability of adolescents and social class and age.
Gender differences were also observed as male adolescents displayed more favorable
attitudes towards stores, greater consumer affairs knowledge, more materialistic values, and
stronger social motivations for consumption. On the other hand, females showed more
favorable attitudes towards advertising and scored significantly higher on information
seeking and cognitive differentiation measures. In general, female children have stronger
influence in family purchase decisions (Atkin, 1978; Lee and Collins, 1999; Moschis and
Mitchell, 1986) and use influence strategies such as reasoning, asking, and persuading more
frequently do boys (Lacznaik and Palan, 2004).
Mangleburg et al. (1999) proposed that in some families, children are treated more as equals
by parents, whereas, in others, children are viewed as subordinate to parents’ authority. These
dimensions of family authority or parent-child authoritarianism are likely to be affected by
family type, that is, single-parent, step-parent, or intact families. Parental coalition formation
is seen as aeans to reinforce the decisions made by one spouse and limit children’s influence.
Family type is expected to be related to parental coalition formation and parent-child
authoritarianism. These two dimensions are expected to affect children’s influence in family-
and child-related purchase decisions. The study revealed that adolescents in single-parent
families had greater influence than their counterparts in step and intact families, probably due
to differences in socialization with respect to family authority relations. Kourilsky and
Murray (1981) examined the effect of economic reasoning on satisfaction within the family
and found that single-parent families exhibited a higher level of economic reasoning and
satisfaction as compared to two-parent families.
Sundberg et al. (1969) reported that Indian girls perceived their families as significantly more
cohesive than Indian boys; however, the absolute difference was not great. Sex differences in
decision making were also found to be stronger in India than in America. Dhobal (1999)
noted that across stages of product adoption—awareness, knowledge, preference, conviction,
and adoption—for durables, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs), and services, children
were previously inactive in all stages of adoption except for the actual adoption stage.
However, today, children are active in all the five stages of adoption of durables as well as
FMCGs. He reported that in the new urban Indian family, children were influencers/co-
deciders at the time of purchase of personal products, consumables, financial products,
vacations, educational products, and family automobiles while they were buyers of family
toiletries and initiators or gatekeepers for purchases of household durables.
Bansal (2004) elaborated on the three stages of middle-class Indian youth— Early Youth
(Ages 13-21), Middle Youth (Ages 22-28), and Late Youth (Ages 29 upwards). She pointed
out that early youth are basically dependent on parents for funds; their spending power is
between $20-40 per month. They are generally influenced by parents and their peer group.
The middle youth has an average spending power of $140-800 per month, which is either
purely disposable income or spent in shouldering some of the responsibility of the family.
The primary influencers for this category of youth are peers and workmates. With Business
Process Outsourcing jobs coming in, the number of 'middle youth' has shot up. For the late
youth, the key decisions include career advancement and children. Given household
expenses, the spending power remains equal to or sometimes less than what it was at the
middle youth stage. Also, many would be taking up home and car loans, and paying for
children's education. The key influencers for them include peer group, workmates, spouse
and kids. The consumption areas contain household, kid products, personal clothing and
accessories, food, and entertainment.

Implications
The family life-cycle has been seen to be a summary variable to gauge the effect of
demographics. However, it has not been used to study the changes occurring in the pattern of
influence exerted by children as the family progresses through the life cycle stages. The
pattern of decision making in families also varies with presence/absence of children. An
attempt can be made in this direction to strengthen the body of research. Indian families are
also witnessing a rise in the number of nuclear families, yet a vast majority of the country’s
population resides in the hinterland where joint/extended families are the norm. Hence, any
investigation of the role of children has to be undertaken keeping this reality under
consideration.

MEASUREMENT IN CHILDREN’S STUDIES

Earlier studies generally relied on survey instruments for measuring the relative influence of
family members in household decision making (for example, Berey and Pollay, 1968;
Moschis and Mitchell, 1986). However, more recently researchers have used
observational/experimental methods to gauge family members’ influence (for example, Lee
and Collins, 1999; Macklin, 1996; Palan and Wilkie, 1997). Some researchers have also
incorporated a multi-method approach to measure influence (Kim and Lee, 1997; Moore-
Shay and Lutz, 2000).
When self-reported perceptions of relative influence were sought from parents and children
together, research revealed that the individuals differed when reporting the influence of
family members. Belch et al. (1985) concluded that children tend to attribute more influence
to themselves than do both parents, and they also attribute more influence to the father than
the father or the mother themselves do. Foxman and Tansuhaj (1988) tried to identify patterns
of agreement and disagreement in mothers’ perceptions of the relative influence of
adolescents in purchase decisions. The study brought forth that adolescents consistently tend
to overestimate their influence and more children perceive purchase decisions to be made
jointly as compared to the mothers. Foxman et al. (1989) found that mothers and children
perceived the child’s role similarly, but that fathers felt that the children had less influence
than the children thought they had. In the purchase of a family car, the mothers overestimated
while the fathers underestimated the influence of the child as compared to the child’s self-
perceived influence.
In order to remove such discrepancies, Foxman et al. (1989) pointed out that triad data help in
obtaining a more accurate picture of familial influences in decision processes. Gentry et al.
(1990) proposed that simulation games could be used to research families. Since the game
environment provides a middle ground between laboratory and field research, it provides
greater opportunity for control than does field research. It also allows investigating
simultaneously a sequence of decisions over a long period of simulated time. The cost of data
collection is also lower and the simulated environment removes much of the sensitivity
associated with the problem area. Lee and Beatty (2002) studied family interactions triggered
by simulated family decisions. Todd (2001) reviewed methods used to study children as
consumers. She proposed that children’s level of cognitive development and competencies
must be recognized at the time of choosing a method with which to study children. Moreover,
it has been noted that there exists a lack of interactive research on family purchase decision
making (Johnson et al., 1994).
Mangleburg (1990) has also enlisted some problems associated with research in this
domain—
1. Lack of theoretical explanation—the failure to provide conceptual justification
for the observed patterns of influence or why children’s influence varies with a
number of factors.
2. Lack of reliability.
3. Failure to define ‘influence’ adequately in active and passive dimensions.
4. Problems with measures used to assess influence.

Implications
Researchers in the West have shifted from obtaining self-reports to observational methods,
multiple methods, or simulation games to research on the role of children. Experiments have
also been designed to study younger children who face problems in reporting. Khatri (1980)
also illustrated the use of analysis of fiction, that is, the content of social novels to study
intra- and cross- cultural family systems. Ruth and Commuri (1998) attempted to study shifts
in decision making processes by couples in India using the critical incident method. Couples
were asked to recall decision making processes from the past (eight years prior) as well as
current decision making processes for the same product categories. Dellaert et al. (1998)
conducted a two-stage conjoint analysis to analyze an individual’s as well as other family
members’ preferences. Webster (2000) identified influence patterns of spouses in India using
participant observation and multiple, in-depth ethnographic interviews. Such methods can be
replicated for studying children as well. However, Indian researchers have largely relied on
self-reports from a single family member. Indian studies have been rarely tested for reliability
and validity. This calls for greater rigor in designing research on families in the Indian
settings.

CONCLUSION
Children are effectively fitting into the consumer role owing to time pressures and income
effects in dual career families. Moreover, exposure to mass media and discussions with
parents ensure that children are not only aware of the new brands avail-able, but also know
how to evaluate them on various parameters. While younger children clearly affect parental
behavior and purchases, adolescents have full cognitive development and an understanding of
the economic concepts required for processing information and selection. An analysis of
children as consumers helps in the formulation of marketing strategies by identifying the
motivations, interests, and attitudes of children who show the greatest involvement in making
purchases in a specific product category. It has been seen that they act as purchasing agents
for the family and are delegated the task of purchasing products which they themselves do
not consume. Products for which children act as purchasing agents should be identified to
help marketers understand the features that are preferred by these purchasers and to help
direct appropriate messages towards them.
The complexity of the factors typical to the Indian marketing environment such as the
prevalence of a joint/extended family system, gifts of durables as dowry, large rural markets,
etc., means that studies need to be designed more systematically to capture the effects of all
variables important in the Indian family context. Individuals in rural settings in India
subscribe to an extended family system, and enter into- and exit from- an extended
households according to their needs and requirements throughout life. Extension in family is
generally sought for meeting childcare requirements (Ram and Wong, 1994) and exit is
sought at the time of seeking a job. In India, wives have been seen to exercise covert
influence in domestic decisions on critical matters. With their acceptance of the role of
breadwinner for the family, they may express themselves more openly and their husbands
may increasingly accept their wife’s informal power (Ramu, 1987). Khatri (1972) proposed
that shifts in family type occur over the life cycle of an individual both in India as well as in
the West. Indians have gone through changes in the type of family they live in various
sequences: large joint family, small joint family, nuclear family, and nuclear family with
dependents. Khatri found a larger number of shifts in joint families as compared to nuclear
families in India. In the West, establishment of an independent household follows
immediately after marriage in most cases. The family type in this case, when the new couple
shifted residence, remained the same—that is from nuclear to nuclear. In India, however, in
many cases a newly married husband brought his wife to the same household and continued
to stay with his parental family, thus changing the family type to a joint family. He also put
forth that for American children living in intact, small sized, nuclear families, shifts in family
type are to be less expected. However, for children living in large families, in families
characterized by divorce and remarriage, the number of shifts would be higher. He cautioned
that restricting focus to present family types and losing sight of the history of changes that
have taken place will introduce an uncontrolled source of variation which is likely to
contaminate results. Hence these shifts need to be gauged in light of the changes occurring in
family types.
Children in India may not have the purchasing power comparable to their Western
counterparts, but they are still the center of the universe in the Indian family system, and they
can actually pull the parents to visit a place time and again. Children are an enormously
powerful medium for relationship building in India. They not only influence markets in terms
of the parental decision-making to buy certain kinds of products, they are also future
consumers. Hence more investigation of children’s roles in family decision making is
imperative.

REFERENCES

www.amsreview.org/articles/commuri08-2000.