Cyber purchasing behavior of adolescents: family communication relationships and parental influence

With the advent of internet-consumer generation and changes in family structures, the purchasing power of teenagers has greatly increased. Since family communication patterns are still the primary source from which adolescents learn their purchasing behavior, parental influence on adolescent purchasing decisions cannot be ignored. Parents play a critical role in family communication and, thus, establish the consumer socialization model for cyber purchasing behavior of adolescents in this study. A sample of young people aged 16–30 was divided across three age spans. Family socioeconomic status was explored to see if it relates to different family communication patterns, and whether family communication patterns in turn influence cyber purchasing behavior of adolescent. The results show that compulsive purchasing behavior is affected by stages of the adolescent life cycle and by the mother’s education level. Adolescents whose family communication patterns are concept-oriented tend to incur more planned buying. If the family communication patterns are social-oriented, the individual tends towards unplanned shopping behavior. The results show that, in addition to the adolescent life cycle and family communication patterns, family socioeconomic status and parental marital status also affect adolescent cyber purchasing behavior.