Acquiring a New Technology at Home: A Parent-Child Study About Youths’ Influence on Digital Media Adoption in a Family

This study examines to what extent children influence their parents’ acquisition of new technologies in a country with diverse levels of technology penetration, such as Chile. It also investigates the factors that play a role in the influence process, including children’s persuasive strategies (argumentative vs. non-argumentative) and parents’ attitudes toward technology (perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness). Using a parent-child survey and dyadic analyses, the results suggest that youths influence their parents’ acquisition of all technologies under study, particularly the Internet. Also, argumentative strategies have a greater influence than non-argumentative strategies. Finally, parents’ perceived usefulness played a more important role than perceived ease of use in the influence process.