Shopping Styles among Secondary School Students: Implications for Consumer Education (1 - 16)

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate the adolescents’ shopping styles from the consumer socialization perspective. Eight shopping styles were conceptualized as outcomes of socialization agents, namely parents, peers, printed media, television commercials and in-school education. The study also proposed five social structural variables (social class, gender, ethnicity, residence, and religion) as being associated with the adolescents’ interaction with socialization agents. The study sample consisted of 934 secondary school students between the age of 16 and 19 years. As a result of regression analyses, significant relationships were found between social structural factors and socialization processes, suggesting that the influence of socialization agents on adolescents may vary according to certain demographic characteristics. Significant relationships were also found between social structural factors and socialization processes. Peers, printed media and television commercials are also found to be significant sources of the acquisition of both desirable and undesirable shopping styles. Parents and in-school education, however, were not significant in the acquisition of any shopping styles among adolescents.