Use of Influence Tactics by Children in India

Abstract

Children constitute a major consumer market; they have very strong power to influence purchase decisions, and they have been playing an important role in the family buying process with direct influence on purchasing power of snacks and sweets, and indirect influence while shopping for big-ticket items. Children are becoming stronger and they use different strategies to persuade their parents. This article attempts to highlight the different strategies which children use today to influence their parents. Demographic characteristics of a child such as age, gender, and number of siblings have an important role in the usage of different influence tactics by children. The study is conducted through primary survey (questionnaire) on 175 children in the age group of 8–12 years. Collected data are analyzed based on frequency distributions. The collected data are summarized and coded by using Statistical Package for Social Scientists 16.0 (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel. The general findings of the study suggest that demographics play an important role only in a few influence strategies like emotional and persuasion. Marketers should understand this and make an effort in tapping the right chord to make their product more buyable by families.

Keywords

Influence strategies children parents purchase decision

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Atkin

C.K.

(1978). Observation of parent-child interaction in supermarket decision making. Journal of Marketing, 42(4), 41–50.

Belch

G.E.

Belch

M.A.

Ceresino

(1985). Parental and teenage child influences in family decision making. Journal of Business Research, 13, 163–176.

Belk

R.W.

Bahn

K.D.

Mayer

R.N.

(1982). Developmental recognition of consumption symbolism. Journal of Consumer Research, 9, 4–17.

Cialdini

R.B.

(1993). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York: Quill Publishers.

Flurry

L.A.

Veeck

(2009). Children’s relative influence in family decision making in urban China. Journal of Macromarketing, 29, 1–25.

Gram

(2007). Children as co-decision makers in the family: The case of family holidays. Young Consumers, 8(1), 19–28.

Hinkin

T.R.

Schriesheim

C.A.

(1990). Relationships between subordinate perceptions of supervisor influence tactics and attributed bases of supervisory power. Human Relations, 43, 221–237.

Kipnis

Schmidt

S.M.

Wilkinson

(1980). Intra-organizational influence tactics: Explorations of getting one’s way. Journal of Applied Psychology, 65, 440–452.

Martensen

Gronholdt

(2008). Children’s influence on family decision making. Innovative Marketing, 4(4), 14–22.

10.

McNeal

J.U.

(1992). Kids as customers: A handbook of marketing to children. MA, USA: Lexington Books.

11.

McDonald

G.W.

(1980). Family power: The assessment of a decade of theory and research 1970–1979. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 42, 841–854.

12.

Moschis

G.P.

Churchill

G.A.

(1978). Consumer socialization: A theoretical and empirical analysis. Journal of Marketing Research, 15, 599–609.

13.

Ronner

Hunt

Mallalieu

J.B.

(2007). Sibling effects on preteen children’s perceived influence in purchase decisions. Young Consumers, 8(4), 231–243.

14.

Thomson

E.S.

Laing

A.W.

McKee

(2007). Family purchase decision making: Exploring child influence behavior. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 6, 182–202.

15.

Ward

Wackman

D.B.

Wartella

(1977). How children learn to buy: The development of consumer information processing skills. London: SAGE Publications.

16.

Wimalasiri

(2004). A cross-national study on children’s purchasing behavior and parental response. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 21(4), 274–84.

17.

Yukl

Falbe

C.M.

(1990). Influence tactics and objectives in upward, downward and lateral influence attempts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75(2), 132–40.

18.

Yukl

Tracey

J.B.

(1992). Consequences of influence tactics used with subordinates, peers and the boss. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77, 525–535.