The influence of the youth on their parents' purchasing decisions of high-technology products

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of children’s choices on parents’ purchasing decisions of high-technology products. Various demographic variables such as age, gender, race, family size and family type were considered to assess the significant impact of the magnitude of a child’s influence on his/her parent’s purchasing decisions during the ‘initiation’ and ‘search and decision’ phases. The study was conducted using two samples (youth and parent respondents) for each of the aforementioned phases. It was found that during the ‘initiation’ stage, the youth sample perceived gender and family structure to significantly affect the magnitude of influence that children wield over their parents when purchasing high-technology products. The sample from the parents group perceived gender, family structure and family type to significantly affect the magnitude of a child’s influence in this respect. Furthermore, during the ‘search and decision’ stage, the youth sample perceived gender, race, family type, child’s age, average age and family size to affect the magnitude of influence that children wield over their parents when purchasing high-technology products. Finally, the parent sample perceived race, income, family type, child’s age, average age and family size to significantly affect the magnitude of a child’s influence in this context. Keywords: Youth influence, parent decision making, high technology products, demographics, South Africa.