Intergenerational Influence in Consumer Deal Proneness Robert M. Schindler Rutgers University-Camden Vishal Lala Pace University Colleen Corcoran U.S. Vision, Inc ABSTRACT Although there has been ample research on the correlates of consumer deal proneness, there has been little research on how deal proneness develops. In two studies of parent/adult–child dyads, considerable parent–child similarity both in overall deal proneness and in the pattern of preferences for particular types of sales promotions was found. Further, the second of these two studies indicates that parent–child similarity is mediated by communication between parents and their children and tends to be stronger among parents with a permissive parenting style. These results provide evidence that consumer enthusiasm for sales promotions is, to at least some extent, transmitted from parents to their children. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The response of consumers to price discounts and other forms of promotional deals has been observed at times to be strikingly powerful. The following front-page news story is just one illustration of the kind of consumer frenzy that deals can generate (Grand Rapids Press, 2005): Black Friday turned into black-and-blue Friday for some Wal-Mart shoppers. Erik Turk, 38, left the Grandville store in an ambulance—but with a $400 laptop computer. Deja McHerron, 13, . . . only got a trip to the hospital. They were among a dozen or so people trampled at local Wal-Mart stores as shoppers rushed through the doors at 5 a.m. Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. They fell like dominoes, with other shoppers going over and around the downed individuals to get the merchandise they sought. Obviously, most consumers do not show such ex- tremes of enthusiasm. Indeed, interest in or favor- able attitude toward deals—known as deal proneness— has been considered an important individual-difference variable in the psychographic segmentation of con- sumer markets (Blattberg & Neslin, 1990). Studies in- vestigating the psychological sources of differences in deal proneness have found evidence suggesting that deal-prone consumers are more likely to see themselves as personally responsible for obtaining the discounts or other benefits of sales promotions (Schindler, 1998) and are more likely to engage in price comparison with other consumers (Ackerman & Perner, 2004). However, these studies have not addressed the question of how consumers might come to differ so markedly regarding such tendencies. The purpose of this paper is to report an examina- tion of the possibility that individual differences in con- sumer deal proneness are at least partially due to the influence of the consumer’s parents. Specifically, the questions addressed include whether adult children of deal-prone parents are more likely to be deal prone, and whether a young adult’s pattern of relative prefer- ence for one type of promotional deal versus another (e.g., coupons vs. buy-one-get-one-free offers) can be transmitted from his or her parents. Also, examined are two process-related factors that may affect the de- gree of this intergenerational influence, including the amount of passive and direct parental communication about deals and the parent’s style of interacting with the child. INTERGENERATIONAL INFLUENCE IN CONSUMER SOCIALIZATION The process by which children acquire habits, skills, knowledge, and attitudes relevant to functioning in the marketplace is termed consumer socialization (Ward, 1974). Various aspects of the child’s environment are Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 31(5): 307–320 (May 2014) View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mar © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/mar.20696 307