Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Direct and Indirect Influence of Interpersonal and Environmental Agents on Materialism in Children

  • Assessment
  • Published:
Psychological Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Present study investigates the direct and indirect effect of socialization agents such as family, peer group, television advertisements, and retail stores on pester power and materialism in children. A sample of 319 children in the age group of 7–12 years and 319 parents participated in the study. 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. The results showed a positive influence of family, peer group, television advertisements, and retail stores on pester power and materialism in children. In the present study, interpersonal agents such as family and peer group have been found to be more influential than environmental agents such as television advertisements and retail stores, because Indian 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 and authentic to make buying decisions. Therefore, the interpersonal agents have been more influential in shaping the attitude and behaviour of the children.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice-hall series in social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc..

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental Psychology, 4(1), 1–103.

  • Baumrind, D. (1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 11(1), 56–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bearden, W. O., Netemeyer, R. G., & Teel, J. E. (1989). Measurement of consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(4), 473–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bollen, K. A. (1989). Structural equations with latent variables. New York: Wiley.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, L., & Grossbart, S. (1988). Parental style and consumer socialization of children. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(1), 77–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chaudhary, M., & Gupta, A. (2012). Children’s influence in family buying process in India. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers, 13(2), 161–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, P. (2008). Parental communication patterns and children’s Christmas requests. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 25(6), 350–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A. H. (1987). Sex Differences in Social Behavior: A Social-Role Interpretation. Hillsdale: N.J: L. Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebster, C., Wagner, U., & Neumueller, D. (2009). Children’s influences on in-store purchases. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 16(2), 145–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FICCI-KPMG Report (2012). Digital Dawn-The metamorphosis begins. FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2012. https://www.in.kpmg.com/securedata/ficci/Reports/FICCI-KPMG_Report_2012.pdf. Accessed 20 Mar 2013.

  • Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geuens, M., Mast, G., & Pelsmacker, P. D. (2002a). Children’s influence on family purchase behavior: the role of family structure. Asia Pacific Advances in Consumer Research, 5(1), 130–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geuens, M., Pelsmacker, P. D., & Mast, G. (2002b). Attitudes of school directors towards in-school marketing: an exploratory study. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers, 3(3), 57–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed., ). Upper Sadler River: Prentice Hall Inc..

    Google Scholar 

  • Hebden, L., King, L., & Kelly, B. (2011). Art of persuasion: an analysis of techniques used to market foods to children. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 47(11), 776–782.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R. (1990). Culture shift in advanced industrial society. NJ, Princeton University Press: Princeton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isin, F. B., & Alkibay, S. (2011). Influence of children on purchasing decisions of well-to-do families. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers, 12(1), 39–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kapoor, N., & Verma, D. P. S. (2005). Children’s understanding of TV advertisements: influence of age, sex and parents. Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective, 9(1), 21–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaur, P., & Singh, R. (2006). Children in family purchase decision making in India and the west: a review. Academy of Marketing Science Review, 10(8), 1–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerrane, B., & Hogg, M. (2011). How best to get their own way?: children’s influence strategies within families. Advances in Consumer Research, 39(1), 366–373.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerrane, B., Hogg, M. K., & Bettany, S. M. (2012). Children’s influence strategies in practice: exploring the co-constructed nature of the child influence process in family consumption. Journal of Marketing Management, 28(7–8), 809–835.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed., ). New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, S. R. (2011). Junk food advertisements with free offer: their repercussions on the mind of children in the age group of 3–10 years. Indian Journal of Marketing, 41(9), 73–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laczniak, R. N., & Palan, K. M. (2004). Under the influence: targeted advertising pinpoints how kids sway their parents' buying decisions. Marketing Research, 16(1), 34–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenka, U., & Vandana, M. (2015). A review on impact of socialization agents in breeding consumerism among children. Global Business Review, 16(5), 867–878.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latane, B., & Nida, S. (1980). Social impact theory and group influence: a social engineering perspective. In P. Paulus (ed.), The Psychology of Group Influence. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

  • Mangleburg, T. F., Doney, P. M., & Bristol, T. (2004). Shopping with friends and teens' susceptibility to peer influence. Journal of Retailing, 80(2), 101–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNeal, J. U. (1998). Tapping the three kids' markets. American Demographics, 20(4), 36–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, B. (1999). Who’s kidding whom? Brand Week, 40(14), 20–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Sullivan, T. (2005). Advertising and children: what do the kids think? Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 8(4), 371–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Opree, S. J., Buijzen, M., Reijmersdal, E. A. V., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2011). Development and validation of the material values scale for children (MVS-c). Personality and Individual Difference, 51(8), 963–968.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pettigrew, S., & Roberts, M. (2007). Mothers' perceptions of their control over their children’s diets. Advances in Consumer Research, 34(1), 306–311.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richins, M. L., & Dawson, S. (1992). A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: scale development and validation. Journal of Consumer Research, 19(3), 303–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rink, D. R. (2010). The impact of birth order upon consumers' decision-making, buying, and post-purchase processes: a conceptualization. Innovative Marketing, 6(4), 71–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossiter, J. R. (1979). Does TV advertising affect children? Journal of Advertising Research, 19(1), 49–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma, R. W., & Dasgupta, P. (2009). Marketing to children: a planning framework. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers, 10(3), 180–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sobel, M. E. (1990). Effect analysis and causation in linear structural equation models. Psychometrika, 55(3), 495–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soni, P., & Singh, R. (2012). Mediation of TV advertising to children: an empirical study of Indian mothers. Society and Business Review, 7(3), 244–259.

  • Stitt, C., & Kunkel, D. (2008). Food advertising during children’s television programming on broadcast and cable channels. Health Communication, 23(6), 573–584.

  • Sun, M. C., Lalsing, Y., & Subratty, A. H. (2009). Primary school food environment in Mauritius. Nutrition and Food Science, 39(3), 251–259.

  • Subramanian, A. (2007). Beyond pester power: kids graduate to consultants to buying decisions. Business Today, 2 December, 16(24), 66–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vandana, & Lenka, U. (2014). A review on the role of media in increasing materialism among children. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences, 133(1), 456–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward, S., & Wackman, D. B. (1972). Children’s purchase influence attempts and parental yielding. Journal of Marketing Research, 9(3), 316–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHO/FAO/Education International (1998). Healthy nutrition: an essential element of a health-promoting school. https://www.who.int/school_youth_health/resources/en. Accessed 3 Feb 2014.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Roorkee, India

    Usha Lenka &  Vandana

Authors
  1. Usha Lenka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Vandana
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Usha Lenka.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 4 Results of measurement model, Scale reliability and validity
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lenka, U., Vandana Direct and Indirect Influence of Interpersonal and Environmental Agents on Materialism in Children. Psychol Stud 61, 55–66 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-015-0343-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-015-0343-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation