Adolescents' Perception of Their Influence in Family Decision Making in China

Abstract The family as a purchasing unit is a central phenomenon in consumer behavior. After Berey and Polly (1968) detected child's influence in family decision making, there was an increasing recognition of children's important role in family purchase decisions. Several researchers demonstrated how children interact with their parents how children attempt to influence the family purchase decision and how the parents respond to children's requests etc. However, nearly all studies are based on western context, like US and Europe. There are few studies focused on the eastern culture context, especially in China. This paper studies adolescents influence in family decision making in Chinese context finding that there are both similarities and differences of the influence between western adolescents and Chinese adolescents in family decision making process