The dynamics of family purchase decision and children's influence within the family purchase decision for recreational service : ǂb in the case of The University of Texas at Austin's Summer Sports Camps

This study was developed to identify the dynamics of family decision-making processes when purchasing a youth sport camps. Family decision-making has been an interesting subject in consumer behavior for many years but youth sport programs have not been widely studied. To examine the family decision process, both parents and children were asked to complete a web-based questionnaire in which they reported their perceptions of the relative influence of mother, father and child at each decision stage. Family members' influence in the purchase decision was analyzed using a three-phase decision stage model; problem initiation stage, information search stage, and final purchase decision. Both parents and children perceived parents to have the most influence at each stage. Parents perceived that between the husband and wife, decisions were mostly made jointly. Children had the most influence at the problem initiation stage which was consistent with previous literature regarding recreation and leisure service. As children's age increased, so did their relative influence over the purchase decision. The dominance of parents at the overall decision-making process and children's involvement at the beginning of the decision process indicates that youth sport program marketers should develop dual channel marketing strategies to effectively and efficiently reach decision makers at each stage of the process.