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The measurement of intergenerational communication and influence on consumption: Development, validation, and cross-cultural comparison of the IGEN scale

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Abstract

This article develops and validates measures of intergenerational communication and influence about consumption. Despite the widespread belief that parents play a pivotal role in the consumer socialization of their children, empirical research on the skills, attitudes, and preferences transmitted from one generation to the next is quite limited. One factor that may explain this deficiency is the lack of appropriate instruments for assessing intergenerational issues. Drawing on consumer socialization theory and research, intergenerational transmission is defined in terms of three components directly relevant to marketplace transactions: (1) consumer skills, (2) preferences, and (3) attitudes toward marketer-supplied information. Multi-item scales are developed to measure each of these components. The findings of three studies supporting the reliability, dimensionality, and validity of the intergenerational scales are reported. Validation efforts incorporate cross-cultural analyses from the United States and Thailand, as well as dyadic-level comparisons between parents and children.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Illinois, Illinois, USA

    Madhubalan Viswanathan

  2. University of Minnesota, Minnesota, USA

    Terry L. Childers

  3. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, USA

    Elizabeth S. Moore

Authors
  1. Madhubalan Viswanathan
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  2. Terry L. Childers
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  3. Elizabeth S. Moore
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Additional information

Madhubalan Viswanathan is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Illinois. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. His research interests include consumer psychology and measurement. His research appears in several journals including theJournal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Applied Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, andPsychology and Marketing. He serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Consumer Psychology andPsychology and Marketing.

Terry L. Childers is a professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. His research interests include visual information processing, measurement, and psychometrics. His work has been published in several journals including theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, and theJournal of Mental Imagery. He serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Consumer Research and theJournal of Business Research.

Elizabeth S. Moore is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida. Her research interests include consumer decision processes within the household, the effects of advertising and promotion on children, as well as marketing and society issues. Her work has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research (in press), and theJournal of Macromarketing, as well as other books and conference proceedings.

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Viswanathan, M., Childers, T.L. & Moore, E.S. The measurement of intergenerational communication and influence on consumption: Development, validation, and cross-cultural comparison of the IGEN scale. JAMS 28, 406–424 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070300283008

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