تاثیر کودکان بر رفتار مصرف کنندگی خانواده Young children’s influence on family consumer behavior

Introduction Children can influence family decision-making across a variety of products and services (Ebster et al., 2009; Wu et al., 2010; Chitakunye, 2012; Marshall, 2014). Children have access to a large amount of information because of a modern environment that offers consumers unprecedented access to communication technologies (Broniarczyk and Griffin, 2014). The simultaneous use of various forms of media, including televisions, computers and mobile phones, is a common practice, even among young children (Wisenblit et al., 2013). Although media use at a young age has consequences regarding attitudes and behavior of children (Asplund et al., 2015), parents are presumed to be increasingly self-centered (Bernardini, 2014); therefore, they might not be alert to children’s access to media. What effect does the lack of parental attention and young children’s extant access to information have on family consumer behavior? A vast amount of previous literature has examined children’s influence on family consumer decisions, primarily during the 1970s and 1980s (Davis, 1976; Atkin, 1978; Jenkins, 1979; Isler et al., 1987; John, 1981; Swinyard and Sim, 1987). As stated by Kerrane and Hogg (2011), research over the past years has established that family members tend to influence each other in purchase decisions, with children playing an important role within this context. A number of strategies have been identified to be possibly used by children in their attempts to influence their parents, including requesting, bargaining, using emotions, using reasoning and forming coalitions, among others (Gaumer et al., 2013). Even though there are some controversial findings regarding aspects such as the stage of the buying decision process in which influence tends to be higher, or demographic factors suggested to affect the level of influence (Kerrane and Hogg, 2011), the strategies children tend to use seem to be associated with their age and cognitive capabilities (John, 1999; Thomson et al., 2007). Nevertheless, family dynamics have changed significantly in recent years, thereby demanding attention to consider this new reality (Flurry, 2007; Gram, 2015). In addition, children are spending ever-increasing amounts of time using media (Wisenblit et al., 2013), also as sources of information that extend beyond the family unit (O’Keeffe and ClarkePearson, 2011).