Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to analyse children’s impact on innovation decision making empirically. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a diary study with 14 parents depicting their experiences with regard to the topic of interest over a period of two weeks. Findings – Children’s influence is stronger in earlier stages of the innovation buying process, based on different communication strategies with differing effects on their parents’ purchasing behaviour. Practical implications – This paper helps marketers tailor appropriate marketing and innovation strategies. Special attention is given to the familial dynamics in the innovation decision-making process. This is to prevent inter-family conflicts fuelled by the children’s requests. Originality/value – This is one of the first attempts to test Rogers’ innovation-decision process. Moreover, despite its many bonuses, the diary method has rarely been applied in the context of familial purchase decision making.
Keywords Innovation, Decision making, Influence, Ethics