Abstract:
This qualitative research aims to study consumption behavior of Thai products, type of Thai products being socialized, characteristics of communication and socialization toward Thai-product consumption in Thai intergenerational families . The study is conducted by in-depth interview with survey questionnaire with 2 family members from each 15 Thai families in which three generations: grandparents, parents, and children, live together, totaling 30 members, and non-participant observation. The research finds that: All 3- generation members share common consumption behavior pattern toward Thai products which is habit-based while different patterns of each generation are found: Grandparent Generation has high loyalty toward brand and Thai product consumption, Parent Generation is more flexible by considering quality and promotion, and Young generation has low loyalty and their buying decision is based on quality, price, and worthiness. Thai products which have been socialized the most in the family are food, beverage, and cooking ingredient, and medicine which are collective products, shared by all members in the family, and buying decision is made by mothers. Festive and cultural products have been also socialized in the family, but are consumed according to concerned occasions whereas personal goods such as soap, body powder, etc. have been little socialized depending on individual preferences. Indirect communication via learning by habit from generation to generation toward Thai product consumption is found the most in this study. Besides family socialization, other factors influencing Thai-product consumption and discontinuation are also found: variety of products in each period of time, substitute goods, product quality regarding health and safety, packaging, discontinuity of production and distribution, lack of knowledge about the products originality, and advertisement.