Ben Kerrane

Children's influence strategies in practice: Exploring the co-constructed nature of the child influence process in family consumption

Abstract Existing child influence studies have been critiqued for employing an individualistic or dyadic approach to explore the types of influence strategies which children use to sway parental decisions. In this paper, we refocus research attention to explore the intra-familial processes leading to child influence strategies deployed within the family setting. Using a family perspective, we present the stories of 29 family informants, capturing the voices of children and their parents through a series of in-depth interviews. Our findings suggest that the influence strategies which children subsequently utilised were informed by a process of pre-influence strategy interaction. That is, childrens interactions with their parents and siblings work to co-construct the eventual influence strategies utilised, illuminating the emergence of highly co-constructed and networked influence strategies within the family setting.

The (post-human) consumer, the (post-avian) chicken and the (post-object) Eglu: Towards a material-semiotics of anti-consumption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the potential of material‐semiotic ontology to the field of anti‐consumption research.Design/methodology/approach – The papers approach is multi‐site ethnography, following a consumer object, the Omlet Eglu, to trace a field of study within the practices and processes of urban stock‐keeping.Findings – It was found that the Omlet Eglu was produced as an ambivalent actor within the practices of urban stock‐keeping, allowing an analysis of multiple aspects of consumption/anti‐consumption and consumer resistance/domination that challenges those dualisms as organizing constructs.Practical implications – The paper fdds to knowledge about the complex constructions of the meaning of egg consumption by consumers. This has the potential to inform retailers and farm producers, as well as organizations that provide goods and services to home food producers.Originality/value – The paper provides a novel ontological approach to anti‐consumption that addresses curren...

Revisiting contemporary issues in family consumption

Family consumption remains an important issue for marketing practitioners and academics alike, with familial influence, in turn, having a pervasive influence on how individuals consume throughout the life course. This special issue of Journal of Marketing Management (JMM) builds on the advances made by the 2006 special issue (‘Consuming families: Marketing, consumption and the role of families in the twenty-first century’; Vol. 22, Issue 9–10) which aimed to challenge the ‘idealistic and simplistic’ notions of family by considering ‘diverse “family” constellations’ (O’Malley & Prothero, 2006, p. 899). Given that family is a vast topic of interest and that the issues that shape family consumption and arrangements are dynamic and constantly evolving, we felt that scope existed to return to (and extend) the issues represented in the earlier JMM special issue on family consumption. We were therefore delighted to be inundated with submissions from colleagues from around the world, signalling the interest that is placed on contemporary family life and how this is played out in terms of consumption. The papers received were subject to a rigorous peer-review process, drawing on the expertise of specialists within this field. The papers chosen for inclusion in this special issue considerably advance what we know about contemporary family life and represent issues which modern-day families encounter. Some of these issues are clearly enduring; complementing the papers published in the O’Malley and Prothero (2006) JMM special issue. The special issue begins by exploring themes of transition, represented by papers which detail the early stages of consumer socialisation and how young adults emerge from the family nest. The special issue then moves on to describe the ‘doing’ of family life beyond the family home, with a series of papers presented which depict contemporary issues shaping family consumption and identity. The special issue culminates with explorations of the later journey of family life by considering consumption issues in relation to the aging family unit and associated caring responsibilities. This diverse collection of papers, loosely organised around the family life course, raise important questions in terms of what family is, highlighting that often family spills out beyond the boundary of the household setting; who is considered to be a family member (and in turn, papers included in the special issue highlight that family membership moves beyond mere blood and marital ties) and that family life spans a range of generations and concomitant consumption issues. In the first paper of the special issue, ‘Changing family structures and childhood socialisation: a study of leisure consumption’, Philippa Hunter-Jones examines the role of socialisation agents in processes of early years (5–7 year old) children learning to function as consumers. In doing so, within the context of leisure travel, HunterJones questions whether parents/guardians (who have traditionally been Journal of Marketing Management, 2014 Vol. 30, Nos. 15–16, 1527–1532, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2014.937614

Siblings as socialization agents: : Exploring the role of 'sibship' in the consumer socialization of children

Purpose – This paper explores how siblings act as agents of consumer socialisation within the dynamics of the family network. Design/methodology/approach – Key consumer socialisation literature is reviewed, highlighting the growing role that siblings play in the lives of contemporary children. The authors’ interpretive, exploratory study is introduced which captures the voices of children themselves through a series of in-depth interviews. Findings – A series of socialisation behaviours are documented, with children working in both positive and negative ways to develop the consumer skills of their siblings. A fourfold typology of sibling relationships is described, capturing the dynamic of sibling relationships and parental approaches to parenting vis-a-vis consumption. This typology is then used to present a typology of nascent child consumer identities that begin to emerge as a result of socialisation processes within the family setting. Research limitations/implications – The role siblings play in the ...