Impact of Pester Power and Cultural Factor on Parental Buying Decision

Abstract

Pester Power is an ability of children to persuade their parents to buy things by asking them constantly until they agree. Marketers adopt this unique concept to attract youngsters for selling their products particularly to the young age. One reason is the younger segment in our society has potential to generate significant revenue. Therefore, targeting that segment via different mediums and parents accuse all the marketing mediums including pester power and label it as an exploitation because it compels unnecessary consumption particularly from the young segment. On the other hand, marketers have perspective otherwise because parents are responsible for their kid’s upbringing and their kids have right to buy products that they like. This study outlined four main objectives; first, it understands the influence of pester power of youngsters on parental buying decisions particularly for fast food requests. This is because a rising trend in fast food can be seen particularly where ads are typically attracting younger population. Second, it examines the cultural factors particularly in the Asian context and parents buying decision of fast food. Third, it examines the social class of parents that can be an additive factor to their buying decision. Lastly, the store environment could influence the parents buying decision(s). The data were collected through a survey from the parents of school-going children (aged twelve to eighteen). The hypothesized framework was tested through PROCESS Macro. Findings revealed that a significant and positive relation exists between pester power and parental buying decision directly and via in-store environment. Likewise, a significant and positive relation exists between cultural factor and parental buying decision directly and via in-store environment. This research is one of its kinds because pester power has rarely been discussed in developing countries context and added to the consumer behavior literature in the fast-food industry. From the practical standpoint, this provides an understanding to marketing managers in other industries including fast food that pester power is an effective marketing strategy which can influence buying decisions of potential targeted customers.