PEER COMMUNICATION AND IMPACTS ON PURCHASING DECISIONS: AN APPLICATION ON TEENAGERS

Year 2013, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 60 - 72, 01.12.2013

Ece Armağan Aysenur Çetin

Abstract

With the rise of social media channels, the ways that consumers communicate with eachother have been changing and new marketplaces have been built that consumers reach anywhere at anytime. With this perspective, teenagers are the most important segment of the consumers who infinitely spend their times on the internet. They have watched video clips, read blogs, visited photo-sharing sites, done shopping online, etc. While they are shopping, they are influenced by peers towards products, brand names, size and shapes, they will spend much more money recklessly than any other age group and they are trendsetters so they become the most important targets for companies. The aim of this article is to determine the importance of peer communication, to investigate the factors affecting adolescent consumers purchase intentions and decisions toward social media channels. For this study, a questionnaire will be applied to the students of Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences to understand their opinions about peer communications and their influences on the adolescents’ purchase decisions concerning with products through social media channels

Keywords

Peer Communication, Purchase Intentions, Purchase Decisions

References

• Akar, Erkan and Birol Topçu (2011), “An Examination of The Factors Influencing Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Social Media Marketing”, Journal of Internet Commerce, Vol.10, pp.35-67.
• Constantinides, Efthymios, Maria del Carmen Alarcon del Amo and Carlota Lorenzo Romero (2010), “Profiles of Social Networking Sites Users In The Netherlands”, The 18th Annual High Technology Small Firms Conference, Netherlands.
• Grewal, Dhruv, R. Krıshnan, Julie Baker and Norm Borin (1998), “The Effect of Store Name, Brand Name and Price Discount on Consumers’ Evaluations and Purchase Intentions”, Journal of Retailing, Vol.74, No.3, pp.331-352.
• Hazen, Nancy L. and Betty Black (1989), “Preschool Peer Communication Skills: The Role of Social Status and Interaction Context”, Society for Research in Child Development, Vol.60, No.4, pp.867-876.
• Lueg, Jason E. and R. Zachary Finney (2007), “Interpersonal Communication in the Consumer Socialization Process: Scale Development and Validation”, The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Vol.15, No.1, pp.25-39.
• Lueg, Jason E., Nicole Ponder, Sharon E. Beatty and Michael L. Capella (2006), “Teenagers’ Use of Alternative Shopping Channels: A Consumer Socialization Perspective”, Journal of Retailing, Vol.82, No.2, pp.137-153.
• Mangleburg, Tamara F., Patricia M. Doney and Terry Bristol (2004), “Shopping with Friends and Teens’ Susceptibility To Peer Influence”, Journal of Retailing, Vol.80, pp.101-116.
• Martin, Craig A. and Alan J. Bush (2000), “Do Role Models Influence Teenagers’ Purchase Intentions and Behavior?”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol.17, No.5, pp.441-454. Muratore, Isabelle (2008), “Teenagers, Blogs And Socialization: a Case Study of Young French Bloggers”, Young Consumers, Vol.9, No.2, pp.131-142.
• Powell, Heather L. and Chris Segrin (2009), “The Effect of Family and Peer Communication on College Students’ Communication With Dating Partners About HIV and AIDS”, Health Communication, Vol.16, No.4, pp.427-449.
• Wang, Xia, Chunling Yu and Yujie Wei (2012), “Social Media Peer Communication and Impacts on Purchase Intentions: A Consumer Socialization Framework”, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol.26, pp.198-208.
• Zollo, Peter (1999), Wise Up to Teens: Insights into Marketing and Advertising to Teenagers, Ithaca, NY, New Strategiest Publications.