Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the perception of parents regarding the role of children as influencers in family consumption decisions in India. The purpose is to support marketing practitioners in understanding the stages of children's influence in the family using the theoretical perspective of the resource theory approach.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on a Web survey approach. Primary data were obtained from a sample of 180 mothers of adolescent children in the age group of 13–18 years and residing in rural and urban areas of Delhi (India) by administering a bilingual (Hindi/English) pre-tested “structured non-disguised” questionnaire designed on the Google Forms.FindingsThe findings that emerged from this study and as supported by the relative theory approach revealed that Indian parents perceive their children to exert a significant influence in family buying decisions, children's influence varies across stages of the decision-making process and the type of product and children's influence in family buying decisions is moderated by family structure but not by family size. The results of this study extend interesting and practical implications for marketing practitioners in India and by extension in other similar countries while designing and implementing marketing mix strategies in respect of goods and services meant for children/family consumption.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings that emerged from this study and as supported by the relative theory approach revealed that Indian parents perceive their children to exert significant influence in family buying decisions, children's influence varies across stages of the decision-making process and the type of product, and children's influence in family buying decisions is moderated by family structure but not by family size. Results of this study extend interesting and practical implications for marketing practitioners in India and by extension in other similar countries while designing and implementing marketing mix strategies in respect of goods and services meant for children/family consumption.Practical implicationsThe results of this study support the notion that children exert considerable influence in family buying decisions in India across products, hence constitute a viable target market for different products consumed not only by them but by other family members as well. It is, therefore, vital that marketers wishing to penetrate family and/or child product markets must identify the person in the family who is likely to be more involved in the buying process and the extent of his involvement to carve effective promotional strategies.Social implicationsThe finding that although Indian children are actively participating across various stages of the decision-making process and their influence is strongest at the purchase initiation stage has peculiar social implications whereby families may be exposed toward eco-friendly green products and sustainable ways of living through the children in rural as well as urban areas. Similarly, children were also found to be influential at the information search and evaluation stage; hence, the messages regarding social issues, gender equality and health issues, which are not yet openly discussed in Indian families, may be imparted through children for better coverage and effectiveness.Originality/valueChildren are an important part of the family; especially in the nuclear families, children are an apple of eye and central point of the discussion. The role of children in decision-making is also important because of the changing information system and modernization of the younger generation. This is an empirical study focusing on the areas not yet explored and examined in the context of a culturally distinct and emerging country in terms of the emergence of children as influencers in family consumption decisions in rural and urban Indian families.

Highlights

  • As an important buying and consuming unit has been well established in the literature whereby a wide variety of goods and services are bought and consumed almost on a daily basis

  • Results of this study extend interesting and practical implications for marketing practitioners in India and by extension in other similar countries while designing and implementing marketing mix strategies in respect of goods and services meant for children/family consumption

  • The results proposed by such studies are extremely useful as they provide an essential theoretical background for further interrogation of them in countries other than developed countries like India where the family consumption pattern and the family decision-making too is going through a metamorphosis change, such as witnessing an increased level of children’s participation in family decision-making (Rao, 2020; Pratap, 2019; Chaudhary et al, 2018)

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Summary

Introduction

As an important buying and consuming unit has been well established in the literature whereby a wide variety of goods and services are bought and consumed almost on a daily basis. In the Indian context, the execution of this study during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic seemed significant mainly for five reasons: firstly, the mammoth Indian population of 1392 million people (Worldometers, 2021); secondly, ranking of India as the sixth biggest economy and projected by Centre for Economics and Business Research (2021) to become world’s third largest economy by 2030, overtaking the UK in 2025, Germany in 2027 and Japan in 2030; thirdly, India is a culturally distinct country where despite many cultures, languages, religions, gender norms, family size, structures and traditions, people live in love, affection, peace and harmony, resulting in different consumption choices as compared to other countries; fourthly, about 50% of Indian population is young, e.g. median age being 28.4 years (Worldometes, 2021); and very few existing studies conducted in India are extremely restricted in scope and partially examined children’s role in family buying decisions by taking urban children that too only for child-centric products. Commensurate with this backdrop, this study is being undertaken with the under mentioned objectives:

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