Abstract:
Presents study explores the phenomena of consumerism among children by investigating the impact of socialization agents on pester power and materialism. It develops and validates scales for measuring constructs such as family, peer group, television advertisements, retail stores, in-school commercialism, pester power, materialism, and parental guidance. 319 children in the age group of 7-12 years and 319 parents have been surveyed to collect responses. Children have responded to questions on parenting style, mother’s involvement, television advertisements, retail stores, peer group, and parental guidance. Whereas, parents have responded to questions on family communication pattern, birth order of child, in-school commercialism, pester power, and materialism. Structural equation modeling using AMOS 21.0 version has been used to establish the validity of constructs and test the hypothesized relationships among these constructs. The results have revealed the positive influence of family, peer group, television advertisements, and retail stores on pester power among children. However, in-school commercialism has non-significant relationship with pester power. Further, pester power has shown positive impact in developing materialism among children, which has been reduced through parental guidance as a moderator. In the present study, interpersonal agents such as family and peers have been found to be more influential than environmental agents such as television advertisements and retail stores, because Indians children are risk averse and seek opinion of their parents and peers. They consider informational cues obtained from these socialization agents to be more reliable to make buying decisions as Indian culture emphasizes on values of care, concern, respect, trust, and reciprocity. Therefore, the interpersonal agents have been more influential in shaping the attitude and behaviour of the children. Overall, the theoretical framework contributes to the
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existing body of knowledge on consumerism by emphasizing the role of parents in curbing materialism.
