Management Science Letters (Feb 2020)

The role of commercial advertisements directed to children influencing on parents’ purchasing decision

  • Sima Ghaleb Magatef ,
  • Raed Ahmad Momani

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5267/j.msl.2019.8.029
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 2
pp. 411 – 424

Abstract

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A study was conducted on the role of commercial advertisement directed to children for influencing parents’ purchasing decision. The study targeted parents, taking into account all demographic factors. The main objec-tive of the study was to determine the extent of commercial ads influencing on parents' decision either directly without children’s effect or with children effect. To achieve this, a random sample was selected from parents of children aged 2-14 years. 530 copies of the questionnaire were distributed, and 474 valid ones were retrieved, which represented for 89.43% of the sample size. After the collection of the questionnaires, the data were recorded and analyzed. The results show that there was an effect of independent variables (advertising campaigns) on the intermediary variable (children), as well as the effect on the dependent variable (parents’ purchasing decision). The results also show that the entry of the intermediary variable (children) on the model had a direct and indirect effect, but its effect was relative rather than total. So, there is an effect of the independent variables (commercial ads) on the dependent variable (parents’ purchasing decision) with or without the existence of intermediary. Based on the results of the study, the researchers recommended that organizations should design advertisements that target parents directly to convince them to make purchasing decision without their children mediation, and design other advertisements to target children because they can have influence over parents and can convince them to make purchasing decision. In addition, it is necessary for organizations to focus on the content of advertising messages, and to repeat them periodically, taking into account the renewal of content from time to time. They should also select effective ways to post their advertisements, especially on social media platforms in different times.

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