Influence of parents on their children’s car purchase intention

The study investigates car purchase intention among students. We advance existing literature by proposing a model integrating parent influence, attitude toward car ownership and psychological predictors in the scope of family or household decision-making. We collected 514 multi-actor sample data consisting of fathers, mothers, and their young adult children from the Jakarta metropolitan area. The results show that parents’ car attitudes are determinants of their influence on their children’s car purchases. The influence is further indirectly related to the child’s perception of their parent’s expectations which in turn depends on the closeness of family relationships. Moreover, children’s car attitude toward the prestige value of a car and their father’s influence significantly affects their car purchase intention. Based on this, we suggest that it is important to target families instead of only young adults in mobility intervention policies.