Moschis, George P. is a Professor of Marketing and the founder and Director of the Center for Mature Consumer Studies at Georgia State University. His major research interest is in consumer behaviors. Professor Moschis has a special focus on some special consumer segments: first adolescent, then affluent and recently senior citizen. His recent works in gerontology did earn him a name of "the most informed person on marketing to the older consumer."

Moschis, George P. and Gilbert A. Churchill, Jr., "Consumer Socialization: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis," Journal-of-Marketing-Research, Vol.15 (Nov 1978) pp599-609.

This article outlines a general conceptual framework for consumer socialization. Witnessing growing interets in the process by which young people develop consumer-related skills, namely consumer socialization, the authors borrowed two human learning models from sociology and constructed a new model combining the two for a large-scale empirical study of consumer socialization of adolescent.

Arguing that various aspects of consumer behavior may not be equally amenable to a single theoretical perspective, the authors built a general conceptual framework consists of both the cognitive development model and the social learning model. They absorbed from theories of cognitive development the view that learning is a cognitive-psychological process of adjustment to one's environment, emphasizing the interaction of personal and environmental factors. Socialization in this regard is a function of qualitative changes (stages) in cognitive organization occuring between infancy and adulthood. Thus, the authors posited that age or life cycle position (proxy variables for qualitative changes) and social class and gender (proxy variables for environemental factors) as the variables affecting the outcome of consumer learning.

On the other hand, the authors' general conceptual framework also adopted from social learning theories the concepts of socialization agents, which transmit norms, attitudes, motivations, and behaviors to the learner. A person's interaction with these agents in various social setting would determine his/her learning outcome. In the authors' conceptual model, four socialization agents were studied. They are 1) parents, 2) mass media, 3) school and 4) peers.

In a word, the authors views adolescent consumer socialization not only as a congitive-psychological process of adjustment to one's environment but also as a social process with various socialization agents. The whole conceptual model is shown in the attached figure.

The authors then tested four hypotheses generated from the conceptual model by conducting a survey to 806 adolescents. Research findings seem to be consistent with speculations of some sociologists with respect to the kinds of consumer behaviors young people learn from their parents, newspaper, peers, schools. For instance, the findings show a strong positive relationship between family communication about consumption and the adolescent's frequency of performing socially desirable consumer acts.

Moschis, George P., "Shopping Orientations and Consumer Uses of Information," Journal of Retailing (Summer 1976) v52 n2 pp 61-70

Moschis, George P, "Social Comparison and Informal Group Influence," Journal of Marketing Research (August 1976) v13n3 pp237-244

Moschis, George P and Moore, Roy L, "Purchasing Patterns of Adolescent Consumers," Journal of Retailing. (Spring 1977) v53 n1 pp 17-26

Moore, Roy L and Moschis, George P, "Teenagers' Reactions to Advertising," Journal-of-Advertising. Fall 1978; v7n4, 24-30

Moschis, George P and Moore, Roy L, "An Analysis of the Acquisition of Some Consumer Competencies among Adolescents," Journal-of-Consumer-Affairs. (Winter 1978) v12n2, 277-291

Moschis, George P, "Teenagers' Responses to Retailing Stimuli," Journal-of-Retailing. (Winter 1978) v54n4, 80-93

Churchil, Gilbert A Jr. and Moschis, George P, "Televsion and Interpersonal Influences on Adolescent Consumer Learning," Journal-of-Consumer-Research. (June 1979) v6n1, 23-35

Moschis, George P and Churchill, Gilbert A Jr., "An Analysis of the Adolescent Consumer," Journal-of-Marketing. (Summer 1979) v43n3, 40-48

Moschis, George P and Moore, Roy L, "Decision Making Among the Young: A Socialization Perspective," Journal-of-Consumer-Research. (Sept. 1979) v6n2, 101-112

Moschis, George P "Patterns of Consumer Learning," Journal-of-the-Academy-of-Marketing-Science. (Spring 1981) v9n2, pp. 110-126

Korgaonkar, Pradeep K and Moschis, George P, "An Experimental Study of Cognitive Dissonance, Product Involvement, Expectations, Performance and Consumer Judgement of Product Performance," Journal-of-Advertising. (1982) v11n3, pp. 32-44

Moschis, George P and Moore, Roy L, "A Longitudinal Study of Television Advertising Effects," Journal-of-Consumer-Research. (Dec 1982) v9n3, pp. 279-286

Stanley, Thomas J and Moschis, George P, "The ATM-Prone Consumer: A Profile and Implications," Journal-of-Retail-Banking. (Spring 1983) v5n1, pp. 45-51

Moschis, George P and Stanley, Thomas J, "Flawed Surveys, Field Trials May Overstate Positive Consumer Acceptance of Videotex," Marketing-News. (Nov 25, 1983) v17n24(Section 1), pp. 18-19

Korgaonkar, Pradeep K; Moschis, George P and Bellenger, Danny N, "Correlates of Successful Advertising Campaigns," Journal-of-Advertising-Research. (Feb/Mar 1984) v24n1, pp. 47-53

Stanley, Thomas J and Moschis, George P, "America's Affluent," American-Demographics. (Mar 1984) v6n3, pp. 28-33

Moschis, George P and Stanley, Thomas J, "What Managers Should Know About Marketing Research," Business. (Jul/Aug/Sep 1984) v34n3, pp. 29-35

Moschis, George P and Moore, Roy L, "Anticipatory Consumer Socialization," Journal-of-the-Academy-of-Marketing-Science. (Fall 1984) v12n4, pp. 109-123

Moschis, George P; Goldstucker, Jac L and Stanley-Thomas-J, "At-Home Shopping: Will Consumers Let Their Computers Do the Walking?" Business-Horizons. (Mar/Apr 1985) v28n2, pp. 22-29

Moschis, George P "The Role of Family Communication in Consumer Socialization of Children and Adolescents," Journal-of-Consumer-Research. (Mar 1985) v11n4, pp. 898-913

Smith, Ruth Belk and Moschis, George P, "A Socialization Perspective on Selected Consumer Characteristics of the Elderly," Journal-of-Consumer-Affairs. (Summer 1985) v19n1, pp. 74-95

Goldstucker, Jac L; Moschis, George P and Stanley, Thomas J, "Possible Effects of Electronic Shopping on Restructuring of Distribution Channels," International-Journal-of-Retailing. (1986) v1n1, pp. 20-32

Stanley, Thomas J; Moschis, George P and Danko, William D, "Financial Service Segments: The Seven Faces of the Affluent Market," Journal-of-Advertising-Research. (Aug/Sep 1987) v27n4, pp. 52-67

Moschis, George P, "Point of View: Cigarette Advertising and Young Smokers," Journal-of-Advertising-Research. (Apr/May 1989) v29n2, pp. 51-60

Cox, Dena; Cox, Anthony D and Moschis, George P, "When Consumer Behavior Goes Bad: An Investigation of Adolescent Shoplifting," Journal-of-Consumer-Research. (Sep 1990) v17n2, pp. 149-159

Moschis, George P, "Marketing to Older Adults: An Overview and Assessment of Present Knowledge and Practice," Journal-of-Services-Marketing. (Spring 1991) v5n2, pp. 33-41

Moschis, George P, "Marketing to Older Adults: An Overview and Assessment of Present Knowledge and Practice," Journal-of-Consumer-Marketing. (Fall 1991) v8n4, pp. 33-41

Moschis, George P, "Gerontographics: A Scientific Approach to Analyzing and Targeting the Mature Market," Journal-of-Services-Marketing. (Summer 1992) v6n3, pp. 17-26

Moschis, George P and Mathur, Anil, "How they're acting their age," Marketing-Management. (1993) v2n2, pp. 40-50

Moschis, George P; Mathur, Anil and Smith, Ruth Belk, "Older consumers' orientations toward age-based marketing stimuli," Journal-of-the-Academy-of-Marketing-Science. (Summer 1993) v21n3, pp. 195-205

Cox, Anthony D; Cox, Dena; Anderson, Ronald D and Moschis, George P, "Research note: Social influences on adolescent shoplifting - Theory, evidence, and implications for the retail industry," Journal-of-Retailing. (Summer 1993) v69n2, pp. 234-246

Moschis, George P, "Gerontographics: A scientific approach to analyzing and targeting the mature market," Journal-of-Consumer-Marketing. (1993) v10n3, pp. 43-53

Mathur, Anil and Moschis, George P, "Use of credit cards by older Americans," Journal-of-Services-Marketing. (1994) v8n1, pp. 27-36

Kennett, Pamela A; Moschis, George P and Bellenger, Danny N, "Marketing financial services to mature customers," Journal-of-Services-Marketing. (1995) v9n2, pp. 62-72

Moschis, George P, "Life stages of the mature market," American-Demographics. (Sep 1996) v18n9, pp. 44-50

Gibler, Karen Martin and Lumpkin, James R and Moschis, George P, "Mature consumer awareness and attitudes toward retirement housing and long-term care alternatives," Journal-of-Consumer-Affairs. (Summer 1997) v31n1, pp. 113-138

Fairley, Sharon; Moschis, George P; Meyers, Herbert M and Thiesfeldt, Arnold, "Senior smarts: The experts sound off," Brandweek. (Aug 4, 1997) v38n30, pp. 24-25