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TV VIEWING

consumers is now acknowledged.

According to McNeal (1992), and

Schiffman and Kanuk (1997), in the US child

consumers are not simply a market of 37 million

potential young buyers. Globally, this market is

exceptional because they are considered to

influence three marketplaces. Firstly, young consumers

are a primary market, they have their

own money to spend on whatever they desire

and they may also be asked to do shopping for

the family. Secondly, they are a market influencer,

they can directly and indirectly influence

the shopping habits of others, including their

parents. Thirdly, they are a future market who

will themselves become consumers of all products

and services in years to come.

The unique market position of the young consumer

has meant that increasingly large budgets

are being committed by marketing departments

to reach and influence children. However, marketers

need to continually rethink their strategies

and assumptions, and make cost efficiency their

priority. This means that marketers need strategies

that target this young sector that are similar

to those used for adults. Stipp (1993) comments

on how different consumer groups have dissimilar

attitudes, interests and behaviour, and taking

these factors into account is likely to improve

marketing success. Needless to say, this premise

applies equally to children as to any other group.

Stipp (1993) further stated that, of the many

ways to target young people, television provides

the broadest and most frequent reach.

Although there has been a lot of discrepancy

about the accuracy of television ratings for

children, it still provides the useful data for

studying this audience.Television attracts large

audiences of young consumers and they

clearly do not only watch the programmes

specifically produced for them. It is expensive

to advertise on prime-time shows, yet more

advertisers are looking beyond children’s programmes

to reach target audiences of children

and parents.

McNeil and Ji (1999) determined that television

is the most important source of new

product information for children and this

importance increases significantly as they get

older (in comparison with other mass media –

radio, magazines, newspapers and outdoor ads).

They posited that through television advertising

children learn about new brands and products,

how to use the products and who uses them.

Children develop knowledge and opinions about

the products and show preferences. The children

may then buy advertised products

themselves or ask their parents to purchase for

them.

This study evaluates the importance of television

in influencing children’s consumer

behaviour.We considered the influence of children’s

gender, parental income and personality

traits on their television viewing habits, and the

relationship between television viewing and

children’s consumer socialisation.

Television viewing and

consumer behaviour

YOUNG CONSUMERS Quarter 4 2004 67

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become consumers through a socialisation

process. Socialisation, as defined by Zigler and

Child (1969, cited in Gunter & Furnham,

1998), is a process by which individuals learn to

participate effectively in the social environment.

According to Ward (1974, cited in Gunter and

Furnham, 1998), the adaptation of this definition

to socialisation as a consumer was proposed

in the mid 1970s, as a vehicle for the study of

consumer behaviour. Ward defined consumer

socialisation as the process by which young people

acquire skills, knowledge and attitudes

relevant to their functioning as consumers in a

marketplace.

The importance of mass media as a socialisation

agent has received much attention in

asserted that market researchers have shown

television viewing can play a significant role in

the formation of consumer behaviour in young

the fact the role of television in forming

children’s consumer behaviour is widely documented.

Ward (1972) explained the influence of

television in children’s consumer socialisation by

looking at children’s perceptions, judgment, and

understanding of television advertising. Ward

concluded that the older the child, the better the

child’s awareness of what advertising is and the

the greater understanding of the purpose of

advertising. Older children also tended to question

the credibility of the advertisements. In

Ward’s study with Caron (1975), he determined

the influence of television on children’s socialisation

by looking at their gift ideas. They

concluded that older children (ages 10 and

above) were more likely to cite television as the

source of gift ideas than friends.When considering

gender as a factor, no differences were

found.

(1994), they concluded that of three demographics

variables, age, gender and family

income, the most influential in explaining differences

in socialisation is the family income. The

result supported the findings made by Caron

and Ward (1975). They considered child’s age,

gender and social class as factors in consumer

socialisation. Social class was found to be the

most important variable in explaining a child’s

requested gift. In the survey, they concluded

that middle-class children (average family

income US$9,000) requested more gifts than

upper-class children (average family income

US$14,500). In addition, Goldberg (1990, cited

children tended to purchase a greater number of

children’s cereals as compared to upper-middle

income children.

The important of income variable also can be

found in explaining the amount of time children

that children with lower income watched more

television than middle or upper-middle income

(1994) concluded family income is a strong

predictor of the time children spend watching

television.These findings also determined a link

between family income and children’s favourite

television programmes. Children from families

with higher monthly household income tended

Consumer socialisation

has been defined as the

process by which young

people acquire skills,

knowledge and attitudes

relevant to their

functioning as consumers

in a marketplace

68 YOUNG CONSUMERS Quarter 4 2004

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to like watching cartoons, but they were also

interested in other types of programmes such as

dramas and thrillers. They also found that both

boys and girls like to watch cartoons, but the

girls preferred to watch dramas and movies as

well, while the boys liked thrillers.

In addition to demographic factors, the

importance of a child’s personality in connection

with television viewing has been widely

(1961) explained that compared to a group of

children with medium and low IQ, children

with high IQ tended to watch less television.

Also children who found it difficult to make

friends watched more television than children

with many friends. Hess and Goldman (1962)

explained that children who watched a lot of television

tended to be lonely, shy, unmotivated

and spoilt. Whereas children who watched little

television were found to be happier, more flexible

in their personalities and more physically

active. Coats and Feldman (1995) stated that

television is an influential model for children’s

expression of nonverbal behaviour and emotion,

such as happiness, sadness, anger, fear and

disgust. Even though television has long been

recognised as affecting children’s understanding

of their world, a growing body of research suggests

it also affects understanding of their

emotions (Coats & Feldman 1995).

In summary, it may be seen that television

plays an important role in children’s consumer

socialisation. To further research in this area

this study considers family income, gender,

personality and television viewing habits as

variables in the development of children’s consumer

socialisation.

Procedure

The respondents of this study were 138 primary

school children aged 10 to 12 years from

three schools in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor,

Malaysia. Simple random sampling was used in

the survey and the structured questionnaire was

translated into Malay. Out of 138 questionnaires

distributed, 110 were returned complete and

usable.

Measurement

The aspects of children’s consumer socialisation

included in this study are how much

television children watch, what they watch and

their purchasing behaviour.

The children’s gender and family income are

considered as influences on their television

viewing and consumer socialisation. These

demographic factors have been documented as

a significant influence on the consumer socialisation

of Malaysian children (Ward & Caron

According to Mowen (1995), personality is

‘the distinctive patterns of behaviour, including

thoughts and emotions that characterise

each individual’s adaptation to the situations

of his or her life’. In previous literature ten

children’s personal characteristics have been

identified and may be measured using semantic

scales (Schramm et al 1961; Hess &

Goldmen 1962; Coats & Feldman; Mowen

1995). Following are details of the characteristics

measured:

Television is an influential

model for children’s

expression of nonverbal

behaviour and emotion,

such as happiness,

sadness, anger, fear

and disgust

YOUNG CONSUMERS Quarter 4 2004 69

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Limitations of the study

The study focuses exclusively on primary

school children in Bandar Baru Bangi in the

Selangor region, located in the western peninsula

of Malaysia. Hence the study represents

only part of the Selangor population.

Sample characteristics

Table 1 show the demographic and socioeconomic

traits of the sample of children and their

parents. In the sample 18.2% were 10-yearolds,

36.4% were 11-year-olds and 44.5% were

12-year-olds. Most of the children came from

families of four children (30%) and a gross

household monthly income of RM2000

10 years 18.2

11 years 36.4

12 years 44.5

Male 40.9

Female 58.2

1 0.9

2 3.6

3 14.5

4 30.0

5 20.0

6 12.7

7 9.1

8 or more 8.1

Mother 59.1

Father 40.0

Eldest 24.5

Second 20.9

Third 26.4

Fourth 17.3

Fifth 4.5

Sixth 2.7

Seventh or more 2.7

Primary school 7.3

Secondary school 36.4

Higher education 54.5

Executives 25.5

Professionals 18.2

Housewives 13.6

Clerks 10.0

Self-employed 8.2

Manual workers 9.1

Students 1.8

RM2000 and above 70.0

Less than RM2000 26.4

TV VIEWING

(US$527) and above. Most children in the

sample were the third child in their family

(26.4%).

There were more girls than boys in the sample.

Most of the children were assisted in

completing the questionnaires by their mothers.

According to Warren (2002), female-dominant

samples are basically ordinary and it is appropriate

for mediation research because women are

more often primary caregivers.The level of education

of parents in the sample may be divided

into those with primary education only (7.3%),

those with secondary school education (36.4%)

and those with higher education (54.5%). Most

of the parents were executives (25.5%), professionals

(18.2%) and housewives (13.6%).

Demographic influences on socialisation

factors

As shown in Table 2, the family income is an

important factor in relation to the amount of

time

children

spent watching television each day. Analysis

showed that children from low income families

like to watch television between 8.30pm and

10.59pm. Children from high income families

tended to watch television between 5.00pm and

6.59pm and 8.30pm to 9.29pm. The amount of

time children spent watching television was not

influenced by gender. Boys and girls tended to

spend an equal amount of time each day watching

television.

In terms of the programmes the children

watched, gender and family income showed significant

effects. Of the two demographics

variables, gender constitutes a strong predictor

with p=0.00. The results showed boys were

interested in documentaries and girls preferred

programmes in a series.

Family income is the only demographic variable

to have a significant effect on children’s

purchase behaviour, as shown in Table 2. Family

income appeared to have a strong significant

70 YOUNG CONSUMERS Quarter 4 2004

Chi-sq df p Chi-sq df p

from time/day 4.7 5 0.45 219.2 170 0.01

hours per day 1.8 3 0.62 95.0 102 0.67

hours per week 0.5 5 0.99 158.7 170 0.72

time of day viewing ends 0.3 3 0.95 113.4 102 0.21

Programme category 8.5 4 0.07 95.3 136 1.00

Preferred type of programme 22.5 6 0.00 237.8 204 0.05

desire to own product seen on

television 3.4 4 0.49 154.3 136 0.13

frequency of request for product

seen on television programme 5.0 4 0.29 140.8 136 0.37

frequency of request for product

seen on television advertising 2.7 3 0.45 131.3 102 0.03

Level of significance p=0.05

YOUNG CONSUMERS Quarter 4 2004 71

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effect in association with frequency of request to

purchase product seen on television advertising,

p=0.03. Gender did not exert a significance

influence on purchase behaviour.

The influence of personality on consumer

socialisation

Table 3 shows the relationship between the

children’s television viewing habits and their

personalities.The aggressive–passive (p=0.05)

and studious–playful (p=0.04) variables were

significant in relation to the amount of time

children spent watching television each day.

Children with more aggressive personalities

were more likely to watch television between

5pm and 6.59pm, and 8.30pm and 9.29pm, as

compared to children with passive tendencies

who mostly watched between 5pm and

6.59pm. Children who were keen on reading

preferred to watch between 5pm to 6.59pm

and 8.30pm to 9.29pm, whereas children with

playful characteristics preferred to watch

between 5.00pm and 6.59pm. Other personality

variables were not found to produce

significant effects in relation to time spent

watching television.

There was a relationship between number of

hours of television watched per week and

Chi-sq df p Chi-sq df p Chi-squ df p Chi-sq df p

from time/day 11.2 5 0.05 11.3 5 0.04 5.0 5 0.41 3.1 5 0.70

hours per day 2.0 3 0.58 0.86 3 0.84 1.7 3 0.64 1.2 3 0.76

hours per week 4.3 5 0.51 8.3 5 0.14 12.1 5 0.03 11.9 5 0.04

time of day viewing ends 2.1 3 0.55 0.05 3 1.00 4.1 3 0.24 2.7 3 0.44

Chi-sq df p Chi-squ df p Chi-sq df p

Programme category 1.9 4 0.75 3.1 4 0.54 4.0 4 0.40

Preferred type of programme 2.0 3 0.58 0.86 3 0.84 1.7 3 0.64

Chi-sq df p Chi-sq df p Chi-squ df p Chi-sq df p

desire to own product seen on

television 3.4 4 0.50 7.6 4 0.04 1.5 4 0.82 10.3 4 0.04

frequency of request for product

seen on television programme 5.9 4 0.20 0.74 4 0.84 8.0 4 0.10 2.3 4 0.67

frequency of request for product

seen on television advertising 6.7 3 0.08 4.3 3 0.20 12.1 3 1.00 1.1 3 0.78

Level of significance p=0.1

72 YOUNG CONSUMERS Quarter 4 2004

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children with personality characteristics of

rough– gentle (p=0.03) and brave–cowardly

(p=0.04). Children with a ‘rough’ personality

watched between 16 to 25 hours of television

each week, compared to children with ‘gentle’

personalities who watched between 16 and 20

hours per week. Children with brave characteristics

watched 10 hours of television or less,

while children with cowardly characteristics

watched 16 to 20 hours per week.

The findings also showed that children with

studious–playful personality influences neared

a significant (p=0.14) relationship with the

number of hours of television watched per

week. The personality variables did not have a

significant association to the number of hours

watched per day and the time children stopped

watching television each day.

In terms of the programmes watched, children

with aggressive–passive and rough–gentle

personality traits were found to have significant

association with preferred programme types

and neared a significant effect for children with

competitive–tolerant personality traits

(p=0.15). The result showed that aggressive

and tolerant children preferred documentaries,

whereas for passive and competitive children

liked programmes running a series. There were

no other significant effects found for preferred

types of programme and personality.

The influence of personality on children’s

purchase behaviour is significant for four types

of personality as shown in Table 3. The studious–

playful and competitive–tolerant

personality traits were found to have significant

relationship with intention to own a product

seen on television, p=0.10 and p=0.04 respectively.

There was a significant relationship

between those with silent–chatty personality

traits and frequency of requests to purchase a

product seen on television (p=0.10). Children

with aggressive–passive traits were also found

to have a significant association (p=0.08) with

frequency of requests for a product seen on television.

Other personality variables were not

found to have significant effects on purchasing

behaviour.

The influence of television on children’s consumer

socialisation was examined in this study

by looking at the influence of demographic

variables and personality traits on television

viewing and purchase behaviour. Of the two

demographic variables, the most influential in

explaining differences in socialisation was the

child’s family income.

The statistical results with family income

functioning as a predictor indicates significant

findings in association with the amount of time

spent per day watching television, the preferred

type of programme and the frequency of

requests to purchase a product seen on television.

This finding partially supports the survey

made by Nik Rahimah (1994) in the association

between family income and frequency of

request to buy products seen on television.

Gender is less influential in explaining the

socialisation pattern. But gender should not be

discounted in future research into children’s

consumer socialisation. Gender is an important

variable in explaining the children’s consumer

socialisation as it has a particular influence on

the type of programmes preferred by children.

Not all of the personality variables had significant

effects on children’s consumer

There was a significant

relationship between

those with silent–chatty

personality traits and

frequency of requests

to purchase a product

seen on television

YOUNG CONSUMERS Quarter 4 2004 73

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socialisation. Overall, of the six variables that

did show a relationship with consumer socialisation,

the most influential was the

aggressive–passive personality trait. The statistical

results with aggressive–passive

personality functioning as a predictor indicate

significant findings in association with the

amount of time children spent watching television

per day, the preferred type of programme

and the frequency of requests to purchase a

product seen on television. The studious–playful

personality trait showed significant

findings in association with the amount of time

children spent per day watching television, the

intention to own a product seen on television

and neared significant with the number of

hours spent watching television each week. As

mentioned by McNeal & Ji (1999) television is

the most important type of media in identifying

a product a child would like to buy.

Other significant personality traits were

rough–gentle, brave–cowardly, silent–chatty,

and competitive–tolerant. These traits were

found to have significant effects with some of

the socialisation variables. Although the personality

variables alone–friendly, happy–pensive

and self-reliant-dependent were less influential

they should still be considered by marketers.

Children’s personality traits are an important

consideration when devising a marketing strategy.

Marketers should take these characteristics

into account when developing their advertising

and research how children with different personalities

will perceive their ads. Future

research into children’s consumer socialisation

should consider a larger sample and perhaps

include different countries. Further demographic

variables could include nationality and

parental marital status to identify other influences

on children’s consumer socialisation.

Another way to increase the value of the survey

would be to include details of parents’ restrictions

on television viewing, the level and

effectiveness of such restrictions are now a significant

consideration for television advertisers.

Caron, A. and Ward, S. 1975. Gift decisions by

Coats E.J. & Feldman, R.S. 1995. The role of

television in the socialisation of nonverbal

Hess, R.D. & Goldman, H. 1962. Parents’

view of the effect of television on their

pp.411–426.

McNeal, J.U. and Ji. M.F. 1999. Chinese children

as consumers: an analysis of their new product

socialisation agent influences on adolescents’

sexual knowledge, attitudes, and behavior:

implications for social marketing initiatives

edition. US: Prentice Hall.

of television on children’s consumer

Schiffman, L.G. and Kanuk, L.L. 1997.

Schramm,W., Lyle, J., and Edwin, P.B. 1961.

Stanford University Press.

Stipp, H. 1993. New ways to reach children.

pp.50–56.

Ward, S. 1972. Children’s reactions to

12, 2 (April): pp.37–45.