Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

Rebecca O'Hara; Debra Harker; Maria Raciti; Michael Harker

2008 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/17473610810857273

Purpose – Risky and high‐risk alcohol consumption is prevalent amongst young females and university students. Relatively little research in Australia has focused on these groups. This study aims to use social marketing and consumer behavior principles to examine the attitudinal, normative and demographic factors which influence alcohol consumption amongst 18‐24‐year‐old, female university students. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 230 female students in this age group were surveyed utilizing a personally administered, self‐report questionnaire. These participants were categorized as either low risk alcohol consumers (n=122) or high‐risk alcohol consumers (n=108). Findings – The findings from this research indicate that a mixture of attitudinal, normative and demographic factors influence alcohol consumption amongst young, female university students. Originality/value – This study aids in the development of targeted interventions to mitigate risky and high‐risk alcohol consumption amongst this cohort.

Tegan Piggford; Maria Raciti; Debra Harker; Michael Harker

2008 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/17473610810857282

Purpose – Understanding the drivers of young adults' healthy food choices is vital to addressing the public health issue of obesity. The healthy eating motives that underlay such consumer choice behavior are particularly important to the well‐being of society. This research is novel in that it aims to investigate the food motives of young Australian adults in relation to five socio‐demographic factors, namely place of residence, gender, age, gross income and work hours. While overseas studies have examined some of these factors, the Australian context and its nuances is one that is notably absent. Thus, this research aims to provide meaningful contributions to the extant literature from an Australian perspective. Design/methodology/approach – For this study of 18 to 24‐year‐old Australians, quantitative data from a total of 310 respondents (93.7 percent response rate) were collected using quota sampling. Findings – The paper finds that gender and work hours significantly influenced food motives; however, place of residence, age and gross income while successful with young adults in other countries, did not influence healthy food choices in Australia. Research limitations/implications – While the findings corroborate some aspects of overseas studies, they contradict others and also add new information. Collectively, they contribute useful insights for social marketing intervention strategies concerned with influencing food choice among young Australian consumers. Originality/value – This study indicates that intervention campaigns that are based upon residence, age and gross income in relation to healthy eating, while possibly successful with young adults in other countries, are likely to be ineffective in Australia.

Outi Uusitalo; Jenni Niemelä‐Nyrhinen

2008 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/17473610810857291

Purpose – Previous studies have indicated that antismoking advertising potentially prevents or reduces smoking among teenagers. However, not all message themes of antismoking advertising have proved effective. This study aims to explore the effects of different message themes on teenagers' intention to smoke. Attitude towards the advertisement and attitude towards the act (smoking) are proposed as mediating variables between the message theme and smoking intentions. The paper also aims to examine effect of three themes, namely health effects, mental effects and social effects on smoking/not smoking. Design/methodology/approach – The data consist of 325 Finnish high school students aged between 13 and 16. The hypotheses are tested using LISREL 8. Findings – The paper finds that only the attitudes towards advertisements displaying social effects are significantly related with attitudes towards smoking. The attitudes towards the advertisements portraying the themes of health effects and mental effects are not significantly related with attitudes towards smoking and thus are not effective in influencing the respondents' attitudes towards smoking and smoking intentions. Research limitations/implications – Data were gathered only in one European country (Finland). Future studies should examine whether teenagers in other European countries differ in the way they are affected by different message themes. Practical implications – Teenagers are susceptible to messages that are related to social approval of not smoking or disapproval of smoking, thus social appeals should be used in antismoking advertising targeted at them. Originality/value – This study focuses on exploring how message themes used in antismoking advertising affect smoking intentions among teenagers in the European context and specifically in Finland.

Yingjiao Xu

2008 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/17473610810857309

Purpose – This study aims to investigate young consumers' compulsive buying tendency from the perspective of psychological motivation. Specifically, this research aims to study the influence of public self‐consciousness and materialism on young consumers' compulsive buying. Design/methodology/approach – A self‐administered survey was distributed to a class at a Mid‐Western university. LISREL 8.7 was employed to assess the validity and reliability of the constructs by using confirmatory factor analyses and to test the hypotheses by using structural equation modeling. Findings – Materialism was found to have a strong, significant and direct influence on young consumers' compulsive buying tendency. Public self‐consciousness was strongly related to young consumers' compulsive buying tendency. However the influence of public self‐consciousness on compulsive buying tendency was mediated by materialism. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the literature on young consumers' compulsive buying. Not only is the influence of materialism confirmed, but this study also provides an insight into the motivation behind compulsive buying by investigating the relationship between public self‐consciousness and compulsive buying.

Kara Chan; Fan Hu

2008 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/17473610810857318

Purpose – This study seeks to quantify how children in urban China perceive someone described as owning many or few expensive toys. It aims to measure the types of possessions and personal characteristics they attributed to such individuals. This is an extension of previous research on perceived links between possessions and personal characteristics. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 268 Chinese children aged 9 to 14 were surveyed using a self‐administered questionnaire. Participants saw photos of a child described as having few or many expensive toys. They then imagined the possessions and personal characteristics of such a child. They also reported which child they would prefer to be. Findings – A child with a lot of toys was perceived as more likely to have branded toys and new media toys. Such a child was more likely to be imagined as spending irresponsibly, selfish and envious of others. A child without many toys was considered more likely to have books and sports‐related toys. Participants were more likely to perceive this child as hardworking, with good academic results, smart, and with lots of friends. A total of 40 percent of the participants said they would prefer to be the child without many toys. Research limitations/implications – The participants mostly came from lower middle class families, and they may be particularly inclined to project good qualities on people without many possessions. Practical implications – Marketers and advertisers should be sensitive to the perceived link between possessions and negative personal characteristics of the owner. Advertisers of premium products and brands for children should stress the functional superiority of the products. Originality/value – These results quantify and verify the results of a previous qualitative enquiry. They provide guidelines for marketers attempting to reach children in China in a culturally sensitive manner.

Andrew Needham

2008 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/17473610810857327

Purpose – This paper aims to describe the ways word‐of‐mouth (WOM) can operate in social network platforms such as Facebook Design/methodology/approach – Using Headbox, a research and seeding community for 30,000 16‐25 year olds who share their thoughts, their opinions and their ideas and get rewarded for it, consumer insights on brands and how positive and negative WOM are described. Findings – The paper finds that the importance of co‐creation is vital in diffusion. Co‐creation implies that marketing happens with young people rather than it being directed at them. Research limitations/implications – Results are limited to technological societies where the web has permeated and is accessible as a means of general communication Practical implications – Managerial implications suggest a new mindset toward marketing and greater emphasis on the active role of social communities in the youth market Originality/value – A new approach to marketing using social networking and a very large sample suggests that we are near to a clearer understanding of the complexities of diffusion by WOM.