Only Child on Consumer Choice - Focus on Chinese Only-Child Consumers

Abstract

The number of one-child family in the world is increasing, and only-child consumers have already become the main purchasing power in some markets, especially in the markets in China, where there is a famous One Child Policy being implemented. This research examines how only child or not affects consumers' product preferences in Chinese market. It is hypothesized that only-child consumer has a higher consumer's need for uniqueness (CNFU), which in turn leads to a higher likelihood of choosing distinctive product than sibling-child consumers. Moreover, the effect of only child on consumer choice is supposed to be different across public and private consumption contexts, so the main effect of only child on consumer choice is supposed to be weaker when the choice is made in a public consumption context than when the choice is made in a private consumption context. As for distinctive product, in this research, two kinds of consumer choices are investigated as means to pursue distinctive product: scarce commodity choice and unpopular choice. An experiment is designed to support the hypothesis by examining i) the effect of only child or not on the willingness to pay for scarce or limited products and ii) the effect of only child or not on the likelihood of choosing unpopular products, as well as the mediating role of CNFU. Both publicly consumed products (products used in front of others) and privately consumed products (products used at home by oneself) are included to test the moderating role of consumption context. The results of the experiment support the main effect of only child on consumer choice, as well as the mediating role of CNFU. However, the moderating role of consumption context is not confirmed. The effect of only child on consumer choice does not differ across different consumption context. Together, these findings show that only-child consumer is more likely to choose distinctive products than sibling-child consumer, mediating by CNFU. Moreover, the effect of only child or not on consumer choice does not differ across public and private consumption contexts.