Abstract

From a consumer socialization perspective, this study explored the influences of parent, peer and mass media on compulsive buying tendency of adolescents in China and Thailand respectively. The results of this study indicated that an unexpectedly high proportion of adolescents in both countries had shown compulsive buying tendency. Compared with Chinese adolescents, Thai adolescents displayed slightly stronger tendency to buy compulsively. Whereas peer, parent and mass media influence were factors that influenced compulsive buying tendency of Chinese adolescents; peer influence was the only factor that contributed to compulsive buying tendency of Thai adolescents. Overall, the results suggested that, although common factor could be used to predict the compulsive buying tendency in both countries, different factors worked specifically to explain the compulsive buying tendency in each country, disregarding their similarities in cultural background.

Key words: Compulsive buying tendency, adolescents, consumer socialization, China, Thailand.