SEM Approach to Teen Influence in Family Decision Making

The primary purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical design on teen influence and its predictors in the context of family decision making. Structure equation modeling (SEM) is employed to test the proposed conceptual model on teen influence and its predictors. The SEM approach also provides for the construct validity of the key measures. Results indicate that teenage children in urban Indian households significantly influence purchase-related decisions in the family. The findings from the empirical data suggest that peers, shopping and the Internet are significant predictors of teen influence in family purchases, although the media’s role is marginalized (as a predictor) to the influence that teenagers have in family decision making. This study is significant, as great scholastic interest is placed on such contemporary research, which aims to discern the role of a variety of factors that impact teen influence in the family. This study also addresses the problem of construct validity of key measures, which has been somewhat overlooked in the past research.