Mothers’ Perceptions of Adolescents’ Influence on the Purchase Decisions of Family Vacations

Abstract

The adolescent is considered an active element in family purchases, especially in the purchasing decision phase. However, services for family use have been neglected. Therefore, the main objective of this research is tostudy the adolescent’s influence on purchase decisions of family vacations. In the empirical phase, several secondary schools were contacted in four main districts througha convenience sample. During this stage, 2,800 questionnaires were delivered in classrooms during May 2016. The adolescents were instructed to submit the questionnaires to their mothers and to return them fully completed. This decision stems from the fact that the mother is pointed out in many studies as the most reliable informant in determining the adolescent ́s influence. 966 validated questionnaires were returned. The results of the logistic regression analysis point to adolescents’ service knowledge and mothers’ occupational statuses as the relevant explanatory variables in the considered purchases. These results are innovative in the study of family purchases. Thus, the present research provides several contributions to this area of knowledge. First, it reinforces the importance of including adolescents in the final decision of family purchases, which is innovative compared to past literature. The interest of the results is reinforced by the study of a service for family use. Second, the results point to the relevance of including adolescents’ service knowledge and mothers’ occupational statuses as explanatory variables in determininginfluence onfamily vacation purchases. The present research offers a contribution to companies by providing evidence of adolescents’ influence onthe purchase decisions of family vacations. Given the adolescents’ importance within family decisions, it is important that marketers focus their efforts on adolescent satisfaction and adopt strategies adjusted to the whole families.