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Although there is a common agreement that children participate and impact parental purchase decisions, the research results are rather inconsistent. One of the reasons for the differences in the findings could be attributable to different operationalisations of a child engagement variable in surveys. This study aims to classify the instruments used to measure children engagement in parental purchase decisions and to develop a typology of these instruments.

In total, 67 articles that reported details and results of the surveys where a variable of children engagement in family decisions was operationalised were selected on a systematic basis. In total, 82 measures were extracted, reviewed and assigned to the particular category.

The typology of measures of children engagement into parental purchase decisions was developed. The features of particular measures, as well as their applicability for different types of child engagement measurement, are discussed.

The sample of articles was limited to nine major scholarly databases and framed for 1985-2015, excluding conference presentations, dissertations, studies and other types of primary research publications.

The analysis demonstrates that authors who had seemingly similar or the same purpose of measuring variable of child engagement into parental purchase decision in fact have used different measures. The differences in measures tend to produce different size of engagement effect. The proposed typology will support scholarly community in establishing more clear definitions and measures of children engagement in parental purchase decision domain.

The typology of measures of children engagement into parental purchase decision is the first attempt to introduce systematised approach toward different domains within the field and their measurement.

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of chocolate packaging and brand on the purchasing decisions of a number of Iranian children and their parents. The paper also aims to investigate the role of pester power as a moderating variable in the relationship between children’s purchasing decision and that of their parents.

Data were collected using a 26-item Likert-scaled questionnaire administered in February 2013 to the parents of 600 children at two daycare centers and four elementary schools in the city of Qazvin in Iran. The returned and complete questionnaires were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis within structural equation modeling using IBM® Amos and SPSS statistical packages.

The results show that packaging and brand have a positive effect on parents. However, children were only influenced by packaging, and not brand. Further, it was found that children influenced their parents during store visits. The study also confirms the moderating role of children’s pester power in the relationship between children’s purchasing decision and that of their parents.

A limitation of the study is that the issue of the effect of packaging and brand on children was explored through the opinions of parents. Also, due to budget constraints, images of chocolate products rather than real packages were used. Future research might study the effect of other factors such as peers, socio-cultural issues, and economic status. Another possibility would be to include other variables such as mental involvement and time constraint.

The findings of the study might be useful for all manufacturers and suppliers of goods. More specifically, managers and marketing agents in the chocolate industry are recommended to improve children’s brand awareness through advertising as a way of making them want to buy branded products.

The most important difference between this work and previous studies is its use of children’s pester power as a moderating factor in the relationship between the purchasing decision of children and that of their parents. Another good thing about this paper is that it gives the reader an insight into the Iranian context. The results give the manufacturers a better understanding of the factors children take into account when deciding to purchase something.

This paper aims to analyse how children behave during a purchasing process in a simulated shop and how they put their goals into effect at the Point of Sale (POS). The focus of this research is children in Germany aged between 8 and 10 years. The results reveal answers to the following questions: which criteria do the children consider important when buying groceries? How efficiently and effectively do children pursue the goals demanded of them at the POS? This knowledge can support parents, teachers and educational organisations in teaching children consumer literacy.

Data were collected through interviews and a subsequent observation of the behaviour in a purchase simulation. A total of 436 school children aged 8 to 10 years answered a questionnaire about their behaviour at the POS and perceived demands during the purchasing process as well as their understanding of purchase-relevant concepts. Subsequently, purchase behaviour and decisions in a digitally simulated shopping environment of a supermarket were analysed for a subsample (n = 170). This combination of methods enables the collection of observable decision-making behaviour as well as of the declarative knowledge and the purchasing habits of the children.

Children often act differently from the way they themselves intended and expected during the purchase decision at the POS. Only a small number of children behaved purposefully, whereas the vast majority was distracted by the great amount of stimuli in the simulated supermarket. The results reveal factors that helped children cope with the shopping task and shielded them against purchase impulses from the stimuli at the POS.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to combine questionnaires about children’s declarative knowledge of the shopping process with observation of the real decision behaviour in a supermarket simulation task.

Marketers try to influence food shopping behaviour of children through various in-store food promotional strategies (FPS). These in-store FPS comprise of attractive packaging, accessibility, availability of foods in wide varieties and presence of helpful and friendly sales personnel. However, little is known about how children buy and the extent to which these marketing strategies are successful. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate food shopping behaviour of children in retail stores and to study the effectiveness of in-store FPS and demographic factors (age and gender of child and monthly family income) on food shopping behaviour of children.

Data have been collected from 473 mothers of children in age category four to 11 years. Data have been analysed through descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations), bivariate correlations, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis.

The study explores and validates four factor structure of food shopping behaviour of children in retail stores in Indian settings. These factors include children’s active assessment of foods, impact of availability and variety on children’s purchases, influence of TV food ads on children’s purchases and influence of packaging on children’s food purchases. Further, the findings also reveal that in-store FPS are truly effective in influencing food shopping behaviour of children.

Marketers may highlight packaging attributes in food advertisements as they can help escalate food purchase requests of children in retail stores. In addition to this, food advertising is strongly associated with assessment of foods in retail stores and looking for availability of advertised foods in retail stores. This suggests that food advertising as a medium of communication should not be ignored. However, sales personnel can also be used more effectively as they are seen to help children in identifying availability and variety of foods in retail stores.

As no such study has been conducted so far (to the best of researcher’s knowledge), this study potentially helps in bridging gaps in literature.

The paper examines the purchase behaviour (performed by adults) in relation to children's wear in the 0‐14 age group. The importance of product attributes of children's wear was investigated. Data were gathered from both interviews and a questionnaire survey conducted in Zhengzhou, a large city in central China. Two attributes, quality and style, were identified as the most important attributes for children's wear consumers. It was also found that branding had a limited impact on the choice of children's wear. The marketing implication of the results are discussed.

Children’s sensory involvement refers to the degree to which children engage their senses, such as sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing, in their interactions with the environment. In the context of parents' purchase decisions, children’s sensory involvement pertains to how children's sensory involvement influences the purchasing decisions made by their parents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of children's sensory involvement on parents’ purchase decisions considering the mediating role of the parent’s attitude.

In this study, a structured questionnaire survey was conducted with parents of children aged 7–12 in Isfahan, Iran. The sample consisted of 210 parents, aimed at elucidating the relationship between variables. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the relationship between variables.

Results showed a significant relationship between children’s sensory involvement and parents’ purchase decisions, children’s sensory involvement and parents’ attitudes and parents’ attitudes and purchase decisions. It was concluded that children’s sensory involvement could indirectly influence the parents’ purchase decisions considering the mediating role of parents' attitudes.

In today's business landscape, it is imperative for organizations to discern the multitude of factors influencing consumers' purchasing decisions. Among these, family dynamics play a substantial role, with children often exerting a strong influence on their parents' buying choices. Despite the acknowledged importance of this dynamic in existing literature, the specific impact of children's sensory involvement on parental purchasing decisions remains largely unexplored. Therefore, this paper aims to fill this gap in the literature by shedding light on the role of children's sensory involvement in shaping parental buying behaviors.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cultural assimilation influence on family purchase decision making of Chinese immigrant families in New Zealand, and in Chinese families living in China.

The data were collected from 200 respondents. In total, 100 families have been chosen from each of these countries. The data were collected by the snowball sampling method across 11 different products and four decision-making stages.

The results of this research show that cultural assimilation does have an influence on parental perceptions of teen's influence on family decision making. Chinese immigrants' teenage children in New Zealand were perceived as having more influence within the family than their peers in Chinese families living in China.

The research used a sample size of only 100 respondents from each country. Furthermore, it used snowball sampling and mid-income group families only.

These findings help marketers to gain a better understanding of the influence of cultural assimilation, and use specific marketing communication and promotion strategies.

The paper empirically demonstrates that Chinese parents living in China and Chinese immigrant parents living in New Zealand perceive their children's involvement in family purchase decision differently. Chinese immigrant parents perceive that their children are becoming assimilated with New Zealand culture. This is the first ever study done on Chinese Immigrant families living in New Zealand and Chinese families living in China by collecting and using the cross-culture data from New Zealand and China.

This study aims to understand the influence of cartoon characters on the generation alpha (GA) in purchase decision-making, supported by the theory of planned behaviour.

Quantitative study was used to collect data from 294 Indian parents on behalf of their children (between 8 and 12 years) using convenience sampling and 20 items Likert scale questionnaire. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data and for hypothesis testing.

The study shows the favourable impact of cartoon characters to influence the behaviour of GA while making the final purchase decision. The likability was found to be significantly related to the recall, willingness to try/buy. The recall was significantly related to willingness to try/buy and purchase intention. Willingness to try/but was significantly related to purchase intention, but it has no significant relation with the final purchase decision, whereas purchase intention had significant relation with the final purchase decision.

The study indicates that generating likability for cartoon characters among GA is important. Managers should recognize that although parents make the final purchase decision, however, children play an influential role. Advertisers should plan their communication accordingly. An emotional connection with cartoons can influence GA, which further impacts recall, willingness to try/buy, purchase intention and decision.

Various studies have been conducted in western countries, but very few studies have been conducted in emerging markets like India, highlighting cartoon characters’ influence on GA’s purchase decision-making, with theoretical underpinnings. The study also explores the importance of GA, an emerging consumer market in today’s digitalized era, which is highly influenced by technological gadgets. It becomes challenging for marketers to promote their products on television to influence GA purchase behaviour.

This study aims to investigate the influence of preschool children at ages 5 to 6 on purchasing decisions among well‐to‐do families and its relation with such factors as number of children, product related criteria (low risk, high risk, used by whole family, used by children) and mother's employment status.

Quantitative analysis was conducted on data from 257 responses to a 26‐item questionnaire from parents of children in 12 private kindergartens in Ankara, Turkey.

Most parents acknowledge that their children do influence their purchasing decisions. Findings also revealed that mother's employment status, child's gender and the number of children in the family are the determining factors for the children's influence on the decision of the family to purchase certain product types.

This is an exploratory study and has limited generalizability as it was conducted solely in one city, Ankara, Turkey. Any further research should contrast perspectives both from other cities in Turkey and other countries.

It is suggested that products for which the child exerts least influence on the purchasing decision of the family are those which carry high purchasing risk and used by the whole family, whereas the greatest influence of the child on the purchasing decision of the family lies on the products with low risk and used by the whole family.

Turkey, is located between Europe and Asia and shares mostly collectivist values. The findings contribute to the understanding of children's influence on family purchasing decisions in this country and provide an opportunity to conduct cross‐national studies. Further, the paper provides insight for marketers about which product advertising is effective on children.

Discusses a research project which focuses on how decisions are made, rather than on who makes them, and in particular on the communication involved when all members of a family participate in buying a product; the family is the most important consumer buying unit in society. Outlines how respondents were recruited in northeast Scotland, with children between 13 and 15 targeted; the research consisted of a questionnaire, interviews, and a decision‐mapping tool in the form of posters. Distinguishes formal and informal communication modes, the former tending to prevail if the decision was urgent; two‐way communication or one‐way, ie parent to child; and communications pairs and subgroups, including parent communication, child communication, and parent and child communication. Concludes that the research families adopted varying degrees of formality and communication directions, and that parents and children often worked together rather than in opposition to each other, with the child focusing on the parent who was most interested in the product.