Abstract: College Students’ Consumer Competence: Identifying the Socialization Sources The role of consumer requires the reaching of social expectations, which implies a certain level of performance in relevant activities. Although young people seem to show many deficiencies, we know very little about what sources will help to develop their competence in consumer matters. This exploratory study was applied to a convenience sample of 960 college students who were asked to complete a questionnaire during class time. Once the impact of personal characteristics was controlled, the significant socialization sources on consumer attitudes towards consumption (credit, advertising and commercial practices) were media, peers and school, in decreasing order of importance. For consumer preventive and defensive behaviors, parents, school and peers were the significant socializing sources. Only parents had a significant influence on consumer knowledge. When significant, the influence of parents and school on consumer competence is positive whereas the influence of peers and media is negative. The results are discussed in the light of consumer education and the need to study consumer competence further. |
Location: http://www.jrconsumers.com/page/4660
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