Consumer Learning in Indian Schools

Dr. Amardeep Kaur Ahluwalia, Dr. Preeti Sanan

GNDU, RC, Gurdaspur

*Corresponding Author E-mail: preetisanan6989@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

School plays a major role in the learning of children. The objective of the study is to examine the consumer learning activities conducted in schools. A sample of 80 teachers from the three regions i.e. Majha, Malwa and Doaba was selected. Convenience sampling method was used to select sample. The results indicate that consumer learning activities are held more often in private schools as compared to government schools.

KEY WORDS: Consumer Learning, Schools, Consumer behavior, Activities, Learning.

INTRODUCTION:

Consumer Learning is defined as “the processes by which young people acquire skills, knowledge, and attitudes relevant to their functioning as consumers in the marketplace” (Ward, 1974, p.2). School plays a major role in the learning of children. It is a place where a child spends most of their productive time in a day. Role of teachers is as important as role of family in developing consumer behaviour of children (Ozgen, 1995). Schooling directly affects the children’s acquisition of knowledge and behaviour (Sylva, 1994). Stampfl et al. (1978) found that children who received formal structured teaching have better understanding of consumer concepts than those who received open structured teaching. According to Campbell (1969), schools are responsible for “preparing the youth to function as adults by giving them the skill, attitude, and knowledge bases necessary for good citizenship and economic self- sufficiency”. Nowadays, marketers are targeting schools to capture the young consumer market.

Companies sponsor the different activities in schools, organize workshops and seminars, distribute their pamphlets and free samples of their products, conduct educational programs like awareness about health and nutrition, environmental issues, hygiene through sanitary items etc. Hence, schools in recent times serve not only the academic purpose but also provide commercial knowledge. When a company promotes its products in schools, this conveys a message to the students that the particular brand is trustworthy. Hence, schools influence the buying behaviour of adolescents.

NEED OF THE STUDY:

The results of the study shall increase marketers understanding on adolescents buying behavior. Marketers will come to know about the various factors influencing the adolescent’s attitude, skills and knowledge related to consumption. Empirical investigation in the area of consumer learning may also help the marketers in developing effective marketing strategies (Ward, 1974; Moschis and Churchill, 1978). This may help them to prepare effective communication campaigns.

Concerns about consumer awareness and consumer protection have always been voiced by various government bodies, NGOs and consumer groups. These bodies are always worried about the immoral practices of marketers and effect of such practices on vulnerable minds. Marketers use several techniques to target adolescents. Adolescents fall into the trap easily. Therefore, it is very important to teach them the role of a consumer in schools. Hence, this study attempts to investigate the consumer learning activities conducted in schools.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Moschis and Churchill (1978) conducted a study on 806 adolescents from middle and senior high schools in Wisconsin of age group 12 to 18 years to examine the influence of family, mass media, school and peers on consumer skills and to see how effective the consumer education material and practices were. Regression analysis was taken as statistical technique. Consumer skills included in the study were consumer affairs knowledge, consumer activism and finance management. These skills were taken as dependent variables and family, mass media, peers and school were taken as independent variables. Social utility reasons for watching TV shows (for example: to learn about the “in” things to buy (things that are in trend), to learn what things to buy make good impressions on others, etc.) were found to be positively related to consumer affairs knowledge. It was also found that older adolescents performed more socially desirable behavior and were able to manage finance better than younger ones. Upper class adolescents were able to manage finance better than the adolescents belonging to lower class. Male adolescents were more aware about consumer matters than female adolescents. There was seen lack of school influence on consumer learning of adolescents. So, it was suggested to re-evaluate the consumer education materials and practices.

Agbonifoh and Edoreh (1986) conducted a study in Nigeria on a sample size of 50 adults. It was found that Nigerian consumers have low level of consumer awareness. This was due to lack of consumer organization and formal education. Age and gender were not found to have relationship with awareness of consumer rights. The study states that consumers get cheated by sellers due to product complexities, incapability of consumers to obtain required product information and consumer ignorance.

Pinto et al. (2005) conducted a study in the United States of America to examine which of the learning agents provides knowledge about credit cards. The data was collected from 1170 undergraduate students. Correlation analysis was used as statistical technique. Significant negative association was found between the amount of information gained from parents and credit use. Other learning agents like media, peers and educational sources were not found to be significantly related with the credit use.

Lachance and Legault (2007) conducted a study on college student’s consumer competence. Sample size of 751 students from Canada was taken. It was found that parents and school had more positive influence on consumer competence. Students, who were more influenced by their peers, were less competent consumers.

OBJECTIVES:

To examine the consumer learning activities conducted in schools.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Universe of the study:

The universe of the study includes the teachers from the schools of Punjab. Sample has been selected from four cities namely – Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. These cities are from three geographical regions of Punjab i.e. Majha, Malwa and Doaba. These three regions have different socio-cultural backgrounds making them distinct from each other, thus making the sample truly representative of the region. Amritsar and Gurdaspur represent the Majha region, Ludhiana represents the Malwa region and Jalandhar represents the Doaba region.

Sample and sampling design:

A sample of 80 teachers from the three regions i.e. Majha, Malwa and Doaba was selected. The sample was selected on the basis of convenience sampling. The schools have been selected again on the convenience basis.

Construction of the questionnaire and data collection:

The self-administered questionnaires were used to collect information about frequency of consumer learning activities in schools and the personal characteristics of the respondents namely class they teach, type of school and gender.

Time Period of the Study:

August 2016 to January 2017.

Data Analysis:

T-test was used to analyze the data using Statistical software SPSS 20.

Student’s t-test:

Student’s t-test was used to compare the two mean scores of a variable. In the present study it was applied to compare mean values between two age groups, gender groups and two socio-economic segments. The formula used is given hereunder:

where ,

SE = standard error of mean difference

X₁ = mean value in group-1

X₂ = mean value in group-2

SD₁ = standard deviation in group-1

SD₂ = standard deviation in group-2

S = common standard deviation

n₁ = number of observations in group-1

n₂ = number of observations in group-2

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS:

To achieve the objective teachers were asked about the frequency of consumer learning activities conducted in schools. T-test was applied to analyze the results.

Table 1 Consumer Learning activities in schools

Statements	Government school	Private school	t-value
Informal discussion about advertisements are held in the class	3.59 (1.16)	3.91 (1.18)	3.86**
Informal discuss about consumer education/ shopping intelligently are held in the class	3.07 (1.43)	3.35 (1.57)	2.63**
Formal seminars/ discussions are held to teach students how to effectively perform the role of a consumer	3.31 (1.23)	3.66 (1.31)	3.90**
Discussions about brands/products are held in the class	3.21 (1.31)	3.49 (1.42)	2.93**
Discussions about consumer courts are held in the class	3.22 (1.21)	3.55 (1.36)	3.57**
Discussions about marketing are held in the class	3.12 (1.14)	3.40 (1.34)	3.16**
Overall mean	3.19 (0.90)	3.56 (1.13)	5.02**

Table 2: Learning by children

Statements	Government school	Private school	t-value
To distinguish between exaggerations and true statements in the advertisements	2.87 (1.30)	3.05 (1.32)	1.94
Strategies the marketers use to sell the product	2.75 (1.48)	2.92 (1.49)	1.59
Rights of the consumer	2.56 (1.37)	2.80 (1.43)	2.39*
Duties of the consumer	2.71 (1.39)	2.95 (1.41)	2.47*
Consumer legal knowledge	2.69 (1.25)	2.95 (1.25)	2.86**
Overall mean	2.76 (0.79)	2.93 (0.84)	2.98**

The results in the Table 1 indicate that consumer learning activities are held more often in private schools as compared to government schools. In private schools teachers discuss about ads, brands, different products, marketing etc. more often as compared to government schools. In private schools, formal seminars/ discussions are held more often to teach students how to effectively perform the role of a consumer, than government schools.

The results in the Table 2 indicate that consumer learning activities are held more often in private schools as compared to government schools. In private schools children learn more about different consumer learning aspects as compared to government schools. In private schools, children learn more about rights and duties of a consumer, consumer legal knowledge and marketing strategies, than government school children.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:

This study concludes that private schools arrange consumer learning activities more often than government schools. The adolescents of private schools are more aware about their rights and duties as consumers. They have more consumer affairs knowledge than government school children. But it was observed that schools do not have any subject related to consumer education in school curriculum. Hence, a separate compulsory subject should be included in the school curriculum of the Indian schools so as to make children aware about their rights and duties as consumers. This will help them to act as intelligent consumers in the marketplace.

REFERENCES:

1. Ward, S. Consumer Socialization. Journal of consumer research, 1(2); 1974 : 1-14.

2. Ozgen, O. The living period approach towards learning of consumer. Standard Economic and Technique Magazine, 41(483); 1995 : 425-40.

3. Sylva, K. School influences on children's development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35(1); 1994: 135-170.

4. Stampfl, R. W., Moschis, G., and Lawton, J. T. Consumer education and the preschool child. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 12(1); 1978 : 12-29.

5. Campbell, E. Q. Adolescent Learning. In D. A. Goslin (Eds.), Handbook of Learning Theory and Research, Chicago: Rand McNally.1969.

6. Moschis, G. P., and Churchill Jr, G. A. Consumer Socialization: A theoretical and empirical analysis. Journal of marketing research, 15(4); 1978: 599-609.

7. Agbonifoh, B. A. and Edoreh, P. E. Consumer awareness and complaining behavior. European Journal of Marketing, 20(7); 1986: 43-49.

8. Pinto, M. B., Parente, D. H., and Mansfield, P. M. Information learned from learning agents: Its relationship to credit card use. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 33(4); 2005: 357-367.

9. Lachance, M. J., and Legault, F. College students' consumer competence: Identifying the learning sources. Journal of Research for Consumers, 13, 2007 : 1-5.

ANNEXURE

Q1 How frequently such activities are conducted in your schools. Please tick one of the following:

Statements	Very often	often	Sometimes	Rarely	Never
Informal discussion about advertisements are held in the class
Informal discuss about consumer education/ shopping intelligently are held in the class
Formal seminars/ discussions are held to teach students how to effectively perform the role of a consumer
Discussions about brands/products are held in the class
Discussions about consumer courts are held in the class
Discussions about marketing are held in the class

Q2 How much do you learn about the following from your schools. Please tick one of the following:

Statements	To greater extent	To some extent	Not at all
To distinguish between exaggerations and true statements in the advertisements
Strategies the marketers use to sell the product
Rights of the consumer
Duties of the consumer
Consumer legal knowledge

Demographic profile:

Name: Class: School- Government/Private

Gender- Male/female

Received on 22.06.2017 Modified on 20.07.2017

Asian J. Management; 2017; 8(4):1311-1314.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5763.2017.00198.6