The effect of the adolescent’s background on the consumer socialisation process

The social environment in which an adolescent lives is important in their socialisation, given that they interact with their environment on a daily basis (Page & Ridgway, 2001). Adolescent background in this study includes socioeconomic status, family structure and religiosity. These variables have been widely examined in the literature concerned with adolescents’ risky behaviours such as smoking, drinking and substance use, but have not been investigated in the OTCs’ contexts. It is the aim of this study’s first objective to examine the degree to which an adolescent’s socioeconomic, family or religious background may influence how he or she learns to be a consumer of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals through socialisation with the agents identified earlier.

3.1.1 Adolescent’s background and family communication pattern

While Churchill and Moschis (1979) found socioeconomic status has an insignificant impact on family communication, Gerris et al. (1997) found the higher the educational and occupational levels, the more parents enhanced child autonomy and the less they

56 communication. In other words, it can be assumed that those of high socioeconomic status exercise a concept-oriented type of family communication. As far as family structure is concerned, Lachance et al.(2000) and Geuens et al.(2002) have explored the effect of family structure and family members’ interaction with socialisation agents. Lachance et al. (2000) compared single parent families to two parent families and found that single parent families more frequently exercise a concept-orientated type of family

communication. Yet, a Geuens et al. (2002) study found that single parent families are high in both socio- and concept-orientations.

Little has been done to investigate the impact of religion or religiosity on the consumer socialisation processs. Moschis (1987) proposes that people who spend their time

preparing for or attending church instead of socialising with friends or watching television are less likely to be influenced by these common socialisation agents. In Malaysia,

Kamaruddin and Mokhlis (2003) found that religious group affiliations did not correlate with socialisation by parents. Within the OTCs context, no studies were found that related socioeconomic status, family structure or religiosity with family communication patterns for this class of product.

The literature however, suggests that family is important in learning about OTCs

consumption (Chambers et al., 1997; Kim & King, 2009). OTCs usage and purchase also seem to vary with socioeconomic factors (Gore et al., 1994; Hussain, 1999) and religiosity (Idehen & Kehinde, 2010), but not with family structure (Morales-Suárez-Varela et al., 2009). These limited and mixed findings suggest that socioeconomic status, family

structure and religiosity do influence socialisation within the family to a certain extent, but no clear relationship or direction seems to exist. Therefore, it is hypothesised that:

57 H1a: An adolescent’s family socioeconomic status, family structure and level of

religiosity will be associated with family communication patterns.

3.1.2 Adolescent’s background and peer influence

Although peer influence has been widely studied in consumer socialisation (Bush et al., 1999; Moschis, 1987; Sabri & Masud, 2005), very few studies have investigated the effect of socioeconomic status on socialisation with peers. However, one such study (Moschis & Moore, 1978) documents that socioeconomic status is related to differences in how

adolescents interact with peers; those in higher social class categories interact with their peers more frequently than their counterparts. With regard to family structure, Dawn (1982) discovered that children from both nuclear and single parent families were identical in their openness to peer influence. A similar finding was offered by Noack, Krettek and Walper (2001).

In terms of religion and religiosity, Kamaruddin and Mokhlis (2003) found that religious group affiliation correlated with the influence of peers regarding consumption matters. Bahr and Hoffmann (2008) suggested religious involvement may help buffer or lessen the power of peers who may encourage drug use. Peers who believe and practise the same religion were also more trusted by highly religious consumers searching for product information (Choi et al., 2010). As noted earlier, to capture the importance of peers in socialisation, this study used the concept of normative and informational influence. While studies about normative and informational peer influences have focused on understanding their effect on consumer socialisation outcomes (Mangleburg & Bristol, 1998;

58 family structure and religiosity on normative and informational peer influences, indicating it is worth investigating this effect. Based on the studies discussed above, it seems that one’s background does influence socialisation with peers but it is hard to conclude there is a direction to the association. Therefore, it is anticipated that;

H1b: An adolescent’s socio-economic status, family structure, and level of religiosity will be associated with i) normative peer influence and ii) informational peer influence.

3.1.3 Adolescent’s background and mass media usage

In both New Zealand and Malaysia, OTCs are promoted through mass media (Malaysian Medical Association, 2002; Norris et al., 2005). A review of the literature provides evidence that socioeconomic status affects socialisation via mass media. Specifically, Shim (1996) found that socioeconomic status serves as a predictor of receptiveness to television commercials and reading print media, while Moschis (1987) found that

adolescents with high socioeconomic status more frequently read both advertisements and news items in newspapers for information about consumption. In the OTCs’ field, Atkins (1978) found that higher status adolescents who were usually healthy and had less

medicine-oriented parents, tended to be more influenced by OTCs’ advertisements.

The effect of family structure on media use was studied by Brown, Childers, Bauman and Koch (1990). They found that adolescents in father-absent homes used radio and

television more than other adolescents. They also suggested that, in families where the father or mother is absent, children turned to other sources of information through which they could learn about the values and priorities of society. With regard to religiosity, Choi

59 et al. (2010) found that highly religious consumers were less likely to be dependent on mass media (internet, television, radio, newspapers and magazines) to obtain product information. They suggested that such a result is because religious consumers do not trust claims presented by media. This finding supports earlier research by Delener (1994). This present study therefore proposes that:

H1c: An adolescent’s family socioeconomic status, family structure and level of religiosity will be associated with mass media usage.

3.1.4 Adolescent’s background and communication with medical personnel and retail staff

In terms of socioeconomic status, consumers in low socioeconomic status groups were more likely to ask for information about medicines from a pharmacist (Cuzzolin & Benoni, 2010) and search extensively for information (Gore et al., 1994). There is a lack of evidence about relationships between family structure and communication with either healthcare professionals or salespeople. However, Moschis (1987) suggests that family disruptions will increase adolescents’ attraction to non-familial influences. Highly

religious consumers are less likely to use salespeople as information sources because they do not place much trust in them (Choi et al., 2010), but they might trust medical personnel because these individuals can give professional opinions. Though minimal in extent, these findings suggest the effect of socioeconomic status, family structure and religiosity on communication with medical personnel and retail staff. Thus, it is proposed:

60 H1d: An adolescent’s family socioeconomic status, family structure, and level of

religiosity will be associated with communication with i) medical personnel, and ii) retail staff.